//O'.  2.2- 


LIBRARY  OF  THE  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY 


PRINCETON,  N.  J. 


BV  A501  .F67  1891 

Foster,  Randolph  S.  1820- 

1903. 
Philosophy  of  Christian 
experience 


i922 


PHILOSOPHY  OF 


CHRISTIAN   EXPERIENCE 


EIGHT  LECTURES 

DELIVERED    BEFORE   THE    OHIO   WESLEYAN 
UNIVERSITY 

ON  THE  MERRICK  FOUNDATION 


BY 

RANDOLPH   S.    FOSTER 


THIRD  SERIES 


NEW  YORK:    HUNT  6-  EATON 

CINCINNATI :  CRANSTON  <&»  STOWB 

i8gi 


Copyright,  iSgo,  by 

HJNT    &    EATON, 

New  York. 


PREFACE. 


The  Lonored  projector  of  the  foundation  under  whose  auspices 
the  following  lectures  were  delivered — himself  a  ripe  scholar, 
a  venerable  and  venerated  teacher,  a  beautiful  exponent  of 
Christian  character — still  lives.  The  foundation  provides  for 
"a;i  annual  course  of  at  least  Jive  lectures  on  Experimental 
and  Practical  Religion.''''  It  is  doubtful  whether,  pressed  as 
the  lecturer  was,  at  the  time  he  received  the  invitation  to  de- 
liver one  of  the  courses,  with  other  uncompleted  and  weighty- 
literary  engagements  in  addition  to  onerous  official  duties,  and 
withal  not  over  strong,  he  could  have  entertained  the  suggestion 
for  a  moment,  but  for  two  circumstances. 

The  first  of  these  circumstances  was,  that,  unconsciously,  and 
probably  wholly  unknown  to  himself,  the  founder  of  the  lecture- 
ship had  been  for  more  than  fifty  years  a  constructive  force  in 
the  mind  life  and  spiritual  life  of  the  lecturer.  It  is  not  given 
us  to  know  here  what  subtle  influences  go  from  us,  fashioning 
other  lives.  Possibly  it  may  be  an  element  of  the  joy  or  sorrow 
of  eternity  to  make  the  discovery.  It  gives  me  profound  pleas- 
ure to  make  this  public  acknowledgment  of  a  long-standing  debt 
of  gratitude.  The  pressure  of  a  hand  laid  on  me  when  a  strip- 
ling is  still  sensibly  felt. 

The  second  circumstance  that  moved  me  to  consent  M^as  the 
theme  suggested,  "The  Philosophy  of  Christian  Experience." 
Had  the  matter  of  selecting  a  subject  been  left  to  myself,  it  is 
probable   preoccupancy    with   other   great   discussions   would 


2  PREFACE. 

have  been  a  formidable  if  not  fatal  liinderance.  The  mind 
already  tense  with  uncompleted  investigations  does  not  readilj 
adjust  itself  to  the  search  for  new  lines.  The  offered  theme 
opened  an  inviting  door.  The  task  was  accepted.  The  lectures 
to  follow  are  the  result. 

The  subject  is  sympathetic  with  the  temper  of  the  age.  It 
deals  with  facts  rather  than  speculations ;  with  experimental 
verities  rather  than  mere  dogmas.  It  subjects  Christianity  to 
practical  tests,  and  so  puts  it  in  line  with  scientific  method.  It 
offers  the  inner  experiences  of  the  soul  to  the  examination  and 
explanation  of  reason.  The  age  busies  itself  with  facts,  demands 
facts,  will  have  nothing  but  facts,  relegates  all  speculation  ;  the 
subject  accepts  the  situation,  and  presents  facts  for  considera- 
tion— the  deepest  and  most  indisputable  of  all  facts :  not  tlie 
mere  facts  of  sense,  about  which  there  may  be  dispute  and 
which  relate  to  merely  material  and  temporal  things,  but  the 
deeper  facts  of  the  soul,  facts  of  consciousness,  about  which  it  is 
impossible  there  should  be  any  dispute ;  facts  which  affect 
character  and  destiny,  therefore  of  the  most  profound  interest 
possible. 


CONTENTS. 


JJECT Ij  re  I,  PAGE 

Limitations  and  Definitions 6 

LECTURE  IL 
Implications  and  Conditioning  Grounds  of  Experience 26 

LECTURE  in. 
Antecedent  History  and  Principles  which  Color  Experience 49 

LECTURE  IV. 
Process  and  I5lements  of  Experience.     Forgiveness 74 

LECTURE  Y. 
Elements  of  Experience  Continued.     Regeneration 86 

'                     LECTURE  VL 
Facts  which  Condition  Experience  Subsequent  to  Regeneration 109 

LECTURE   YJL 
Some  Phases  op  Experience 127 

LECTURE  VI  IL 
Possibilities  op  Grace,  and  Advices. 154 


PHILOSOPHY  OF 

CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE. 


LECTU  RE    I. 
LIMITATIONS    AND   DEFINITIONS. 

The  greatest  difRcnlty  I  have  found  in  jDreparing  these  lect- 
ures has  been  to  determine  what  things  to  exchide  so  as  to  bring 
them  within  allowed  limits  ;  and  yet  so  as  not  to  mar  them  by 
leaving  out  matters  which  ought  to  be  mentioned,  as  having  es- 
sential bearings  on  the  subject  to  be  discussed.  An  attempt  to 
give  a  philosophy  of  Christian  experience  without  discussing  the 
doctrine  of  human  sin  and  sinfulness^  for  instance,  seems  to  be 
commencing  to  build  in  the  air  ;  the  same  is  true  of  the  doctrine 
of  atonement ;  yet  any  one  at  all  informed  on  the  nature  of 
these  subjects  and  of  the  breadth  of  discussion  they  involve 
will  see  that  either  of  them,  to  be  discussed  at  all,  would  re- 
quire more  than  all  the  time  I  have  for  my  entire  subject.  It 
is  impossible,  therefore,  for  me  to  enter  the  field  of  polemics  on 
these  points  at  all.  They  are  fully  discussed  in  Studies  hi  The- 
ology, now  going  through  the  press.  Tlie  only  possible  atten- 
tion I  can  give  them  in  these  lectures  is  the  briefest  reference 
and  simple  statement  M^hen  continuity  of  thought  demands  it. 

The  stand-point  from  which  the  discussion  proceeds  is, 
broadly,  tliat  occupied  by  Arminian  theologians,  without  slavish 
adherence  to  all  the  incidents  put  into  the  theory  by  many  of 
its  advocates.  Its  theory  of  sin  and  atonement  and  cognate  doc- 
trines is  assumed  as  substantially  correct,  without  any  attempt 


6  PHILOSOPHY  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE. 

at  unfolding  or  defending  the  positions  held.  But,  while  this 
is  the  stand-point  which  my  mind  holds  theologically,  it  must 
be  kept  in  mind  that  I  have  no  concern  whatever  about  the 
defense  of  any  theological  system.  I  am  not  proposing  to  treat 
the  subject  theologically  at  all,  and  am  utterly  careless  about 
systems  as  such.  My  line  is  entirely  another — deals  with  facts 
and  the  philosophy  of  them. 

It  is  proper  to  say,  before  entering  upon  the  discussion  to 
which  these  lectures  are  to  be  devoted,  that  they  do  not  propose 
a  philosophy  of  religion,  or  even  a  philosophy  of  the  Christian 
system  of  religion.  These  are  cognate  and  generally  related 
subjects  to  our  topic,  but  are  broader,  and  our  limits  will  not 
permit  us  even  to  broach  them.  There  are  many  able  treatises 
on  these  distinct  topics  within  the  reach  of  every  student,  which, 
in  order  to  the  best  theological  furnishing,  ought  to  be  read  and 
studied  with  care.  As  an  invaluable  treatise  of  this  kind,  bear- 
ing directly  on  Christian  apologetics,  I  commend  Walker's 
Philosophy  of  the  Plan  of  Salvation  ^  in  many  respects  equal, 
and  in  some  respects  superior,  to  Bishop  Butler's  masterpiece. 
The  Analogy  of  Religion,  Natural  and  Revealed,  to  the  Consti- 
tution and  Course  of  Nature,  which,  of  course,  no  student  is  un- 
acquainted with.  1  also  commend,  as  of  great  value,  the  two 
works  of  Dr.  Mark  Hopkins,  Lectures  on  Moral  Philosophy 
and  Ethics,  and  The  Laio  of  Love  and  Love  a  Law  j  likewise 
Bushnell's  Nature  and  the  Supernatural.  And  I  will  venture 
to  speak  of  yet  one  other,  which  I  have  been  permitted  to  see 
in  manuscript,  for  which  the  world  has  been  waiting  too  long, 
and  I  hope  may  not  have  to  wait  much  longer,  Comparative 
Religions,  by  Dr.  William  F.  Warren,  of  the  Boston  University. 

These  lectures  will  be  strictly  limited  to  the  investigation  of 
"  the  philosophy  of  Christian  experience."     There  have  been 


PHILOSOPHY  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE.  7 

many  works  written  on  the  subject  of  Christian  experience, 
some  practical  and  experimental,  some  speculative,  critical,  and 
theological,  but,  so  far  as  I  am  informed,  while  many  of  these 
have  been  stimulating  and  helpful  to  thought  none  have  at- 
tempted a  philosophy  of  the  subject.  We  enter,  therefore,  upon 
a  somewhat  new  and,  in  some  respects,  unfinger-boarded  and  un- 
trodden way.  It  is  proper  I  should  say  that  our  path  lies  broad 
away  from  a  strictly  biblical  or  theological  treatise ;  and  from  lior- 
tation  or  an  attempt  to  stimulate  to  the  pursuit  of  an  experience. 
I  propose  no  theological  polemic.  For  my  purposes  I  shall 
make  the  least  possible  reference  theologizing.  Nor  will  it  be 
expected  that  I  shall  deal  with  matters  of  exegesis.  As  nearly 
as  possible  I  will  omit  any  reference  to  the  text.  This  may  seem 
strange  in  treating  of  such  a  theme  as  Christian  experience,  but 
it  is  precisely  what  my  thesis  demands.  I  am  to  deal  with 
matters  of  experience — purely  subjective  phenomena  ;  to  in- 
quire what  they  are,  and  liow  they  are  to  be  explained.  Theolog- 
ical and  biblical  principles  are  involved  and  will  emerge,  but 
they  do  not  enter  into  my  discussion  directly.  No  position 
taken  will  depend  for  its  support  or  will  be  supported  by  appeal 
to  the  Bible,  though  some  will  depend  on  the  Bible  for  their 
historical  grounds. 

Perhaps  it  ought  to  be  stated  more  explicitly  that  the  method 
pursued  in  this  discussion  is  entirely  different  from  that  ordi- 
narilj'  pursued  in  dealing  with  Christian  topics.  The  usual 
method  is  to  attempt  to  find  what  is  taught  in  or  deduceable 
from  the  Bible.  The  book  is  court  of  final  resort;  its  dictum 
is  decisive.  The  aim  is  to  find  what  it  teaches.  Now  this  is 
not  my  aim  at  all.  I  do  not  even  raise  the  question.  My  point 
is  to  find  what  human  experience  is,  and  what  liuman  experience 
teaches  along  certain  lines.  This  will  explain  why  so  little 'ref- 
erence is  made  to  the  Bible  in  these- lectures..   Other  treatises  — 


8  PEILOSOPEY  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE. 

a  former  treatise  of  my  own — proceed  from  the  view-point  of  the 
Bible.    This  discussion  is  from  the  view-point  of  the  sonl  itself. 

This  course  is  pursued  as  the  only  legitimate  course  in  essay- 
ing to  give  a  philosophy  of  facts  which  are  wholly  facts  of  ex- 
perience. I  desire  attention  to  every  position  taken,  and  hold 
myself  under  obligation  to  the  proof  that  nothing  advanced  is 
contrary  to  the  word  of  God  when  the  proof  is  demanded.  My 
hope  is  to  show  that  Christian  experience  is  capable  of  rational 
interpretation  and  defense  ;  and  so  to  make  it  appear  tliat  con- 
crete Christianity,  or  the  Christianity  of  experience,  rationally 
unfolded,  is  precisely  the  Christianity  of  the  Bible,  doctrinally 
revealed. 

Some  of  the  positions  taken  will  impinge  on  current  systems, 
and  some  opinions  about  them  will  be  expressed,  but  only  as 
they  bear  on  the  philosophy  propounded,  not  at  all  on  the  the- 
ological polemic. 

The  demand  for  definition.  WJiat  is  definition  f  The  terms 
of  the  thesis  call  for  defiLition.  Definition  itself  needs  to  be 
defined.  It  is  essential  to  definition  that  it  define  ;  that  is,  that 
it  should  separate  the  object  defined  from  every  other  subject, 
so  that  it  becomes  a  distinct  object  of  thought — set  off  by 
itself.  That  is  the  etymological  significance  of  the  term — to 
bound,  or  set  boundaries.  Nothing  approaches  definition  that 
does  not  secure  this  first  condition.  But  this  is  not  suflicient. 
Definition  must  include  all  that  is  essential  to  the  object  defined. 
If  any  essential  is  left  out,  the  definition  falls  short  of  its  aim 
in  an  essential  point,  and  the  defect  may  be  such  as  to  involve 
utter  error.  The  statement  of  the  most  important  fact,  with 
respect  to  an  object,  is  not  a  definition  of  it,  though  it  may  in- 
dicate it.  The  definition  must  include  every  essential  and  ex- 
clude every  thing  else.    If  more  is  put  into  the  definition  than  is 


PHILOSOPHY  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE.  9 

included  in  the  thing  defined,  the  object  is  not  before  the  mind, 
but  some  other  object — a  distortion.  The  included  error  may  be 
such  as  to  be  utterly  misleading  and  involve  fatal  misdirection. 
Truth  is  exact,  and  to  reach  it  the  utmost  possible  precision 
is  necessary  in  the  use  of  significant  terms  ;  never  more  so  than 
in  a  discussion  like  the  present.  General  statements,  when  all 
their  inclusions  are  fully  understood  and  mutually  accepted, 
may  so  indicate  an  object  as  to  preclude  the  necessity  of  more 
formal  and  elaborate  definition,  but  when  the  subject  is  one  of 
fundamental  importance,  and  there  are  possible  diverse  views, 
such  general  statements  are  always  to  be  looked  upon  with  sus- 
picion, and  create  a  demand  for  examination  lest  some  covert 
meaning  having  in  it  concealed  error  be  intended,  or,  if  not  in- 
tended, be  nevertheless  introduced.  It  is  not  an  uncommon 
thing  for  error  to  be  so  masked  in  plausible  general  terms  as  to 
impose  upon  those  who  use  them,  as  well  as  those  addressed  by 
them.  They  have  such  a  semblance  to  truth,  and  in  some  in- 
stances so  manifestly  contain  a  truth,  that,  while  containing  along 
with  the  truth  a  fatal  error,  the  error  is  so  concealed  as  not  to  be 
discovered,  and  the  truth  itself  is  made  to  give  currency  to  a 
destructive  falsehood.  It  is  in  this  way  that  the  most  damaging 
systems  of  error  gain  foothold  with  honest  minds.  Error  never 
comes  naked.  It  dra2)es  itself  in  garbs  of  truth  and  thus  insid- 
iously insinuates  and  establishes  itself.  It  is  a  rogue  which, 
knowing  that  if  seen  alone  it  would  not  be  tolerated  for  a 
moment,  always  comes  in  a  crowd  of  well-known  respectable 
truths,  and  seeks  to  gain  admission  by  the  good  company  it 
keeps.  It  is  by  this  subtlety  that  false  systems  of  doctrine  and. 
heretical  creeds  always  put  as  much  truth  in  them  as  possible, 
and  give  these  trutlis  prominence,  and  call  themselves  by  old 
and  honored  names,  that  under  these  disguises  they  may  inject 
their  poison  without  starting  apprehension. 


10  PHILOSOPHY  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE. 

Philosophy.  By  pliilosophj  we  understand  the  knowledge 
and  rational  explanation  of  phenomena  as  to  their  causes  and 
significance.  The  term  has  been  variously  defined  as  "  The 
science  of  things  divine  and  human,  and  the  causes  in  whicli 
they  are  contained  ; "  "  the  science  of  effects  and  their  causes ;  " 
"  the  science  of  the  sufficient  reason  ;  "  "  the  science  of  things  de- 
duced from  first  principles."  All  these  definitions  are  of  the 
same  general  import,  and,  more  simply  construed,  signify  that 
by  the  term  philosophy  is  meant  the  understanding  and  explan- 
ation of  phenomena  of  which  the  mind  becomes  aware  eitlier 
by  observation  or  consciousness ;  as  to  their  causes,  laws,  and 
significance. 

To  render  a  philosophy  of  any  subject  is  simply  to  give  a 
sufficiently  full  statement  of  the  facts  and  contents  of  the  sub- 
ject, and  furnish  a  rational,  that  is,  an  intelligible  and  adequate, 
explanation  of  them.  To  know  a  thing  and  not  know  its  causal 
grounds  is  imperfect  knowledge — next  door  to  absolute  igno- 
rance— and  opens  the  mind  to  all  sorts  of  fancies  and  superstitions. 
To  know  a  thing  and  also  know  its  causes  is  enlarged  knowl- 
edge, and  closes  the  door  of  the  mind  against  a  mob  of  delusions, 
but  does  not  furnish  it  perfect  content.  There  remains  still  the 
question,  for  what  ? — or,  what  does  it  signify  ?  to  what  end  is  it  ? 
When  an  object  is  known  as  to  what  it  is,  and  as  to  its  cause, 
how  it  is,  or  by  what  power  it  is,  and  when  additionally  it  is 
known  as  to  why  it  is,  for  what  end  it  is,  we  have  reached  true 
knowledge — science — philosophy.  This  by  a  law  of  the  mind 
is  its  everlasting  search  ;  until  the  attainment  is  reached  it  can 
have  no  fruition  of  content.    It  is  the  goal  of  rational  existence. 

Experience.  The  term  experience  is  thus  defined  by  Web- 
ster :  "  Particular  acquaintance  with  any  matter  by  personal  ob- 
servation or  trial  of  it ;  by  feeling  its  effects  ;  by  living  through 


PHILOSOPHY  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE.  11 

it."  It  is  thus  made  the  equivalent  of  personal  knowledge  of 
external  facts  and  things,  by  perceiving  them  or  by  observation 
of  any  kind ;  and  of  all  internal  states  of  feeling  which  emerge 
in  consciousness,  whether  intellectual,  emotional,  or  volitional. 
This  is  a  broad  use  of  the  term  ;  and  it  may  be  doubted  wliether 
for  strict  accuracy  it  is  not  too  broad.  There  would  seem  to  be 
a  sufficient  difference  between  matters  of  observation  and  mat- 
ters of  consciousness  not  to  class  them  as  identical.  The  one  re- 
lates to  matters  objective,  the  other  to  matters  subjective.  The 
objective  offers  itself  to  experiment,  the  subjective  to  experi- 
ence. Experience  more  specifically  relates  to  the  internal  states 
and  feelings,  existing  as  present,  or  recalled  as  past,  conscious- 
nesses, through  which  one  has  passed  or  is  passing.  This  is  tlie 
sense  in  which  it  is  more  commonly  used  and  in  which  it  is  in- 
variably used  in  these  lectures. 

Whatever  a  man  experiences  he  knows.  It  is  the  knowing 
that  constitutes  the  experience.  If  he  did  not  know  the  expe- 
rience he  could  not  be  said  to  have  it.  There  is  no  consciousness 
of  which  we  are  not  conscious  or  of  which  we  have  not  knowledge. 

In  this  discussion  I  am  to  be  employed  specifically  about 
facts — subjective  states  and  feelings  which  emerge  in  conscious- 
ness ;  therefore  the  most  immediate  and  indisputable  matters  of 
knowledge.  Theories,  dogmas,  speculative  inference  as  to  facts 
themselves  have  no  place.  Consciousness  furnishes  them.  They 
do  not  require  proof.  The  experience  is  the  proof.  They  will  ad- 
mit of  no  other.  The  proof  of  pain  is  that  we  feel  it.  The  same 
is  true  of  all  subjective  experiences.  The  proof  of  them  is  tliat 
we  have  them. 

The  philosophy  of  these  matters  of  experience  comprises  sim- 
ply the  consciousness  of  them,  the  right  understanding  of  their 
grounds  and  sources  and  their  significance,  or  relation  to  ends 
to  be  served  by  them. 


1^  PHILOSOPHY  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE. 

Tliis  exhausts  the  subject,  and  leaves  nothing  further  to  place 
them  in  the  line  of  rational  or  understood  knowledges.  We 
cannot  explain  how  the  soul  receives  subjective  impressions. 
Consciousness  itself  is  a  final  fact,  and  admits  of  no  explanation. 
The  furthest  possible  point  to  which  we  can  push  inquiry  as  to 
the  facts  themselves  which  emerge  in  consciousness  is  to  find 
them  and  their  causes,  and  the  ends  they  serve.  Many  times  we 
are  compelled  to  stop  short  of  this.  We  can  simply  know  the 
facts.  In  such  cases  the  philosophy  of  the  facts  remains  impos- 
sible. If  we  can  go  further,  and  find  how  it  is  that  the  facts  ex- 
ist and  any  ends  which  they  are  manifestly  intended  to  serve,  we 
have  the  entire  philosophy  of  them. 

If  we  choose  to  use  the  term  experience  in  the  broadest  sense 
as  including  matters  of  personal  observation,  then  there  is  a  dif- 
ference between  an  experience  of  Christianity  and  a  Christian 
experience.  An  experience  of  Christianity  is  the  result  of  per- 
sonal observation  as  to  its  effects  on  individuals,  peo])le8,  and 
institutions,  its  moral  and  social  tendencies,  liow  it  affects  wel- 
fare in  respect  of  education,  industrial  habits,  commercial  eth- 
ics, and  all  things  that  enter  into  the  general  improvement  and 
happiness  of  communities.  One  who  by  living  with  it  has  be- 
come acquainted  with  it  so  as  to  have  knowledge  of  it  on  these 
points  may  be  said  to  have  experience  of  Christianity — he  has 
seen  and  felt  its  workings.  There  is  yet  a  deeper  experience 
than  these  general  effects  of  the  system  felt  by  many — in  per- 
sonal influences  which  reach  them  through  its  teachings,  which 
consciously  modify  their  thouglits,  feeling,  moral  habits,  and 
principles,  and  personal  character — who  yet  have  no  Christian 
experience,  but  only  experience  of  some  Christian  influences; 
who  are  not,  and  well  know  themselves  not  to  be.  Christians. 
The  experience  in  both  these  kinds  indicates  something  of 
what  Christianity  is,  and  is  of  high  apologetical  value.    It  points 


PHILOSOPHY  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE.  IS 

to  a  power  for  good  in  tlie  system  which  the  world  needs,  and, 
so,  broadly  indicates  its  probable  truth ;  and  where  the  experi- 
ence is  all  one  way,  as,  we  are  bold  to  say,  it  always  is,  con- 
demns revilers  on  their  own  experience.  But  it  is  not  an  experi- 
ence of  this  kind  that  we  seek  to  illuminate — its  matters  do  not 
emerge  in  our  tliesis  in  any  form. 

It  is  worth  while  to  observe  further  on  this  matter  of  experi- 
ence that,  while  matters  of  experience  are  relatively  the  clearest 
and  most  satisfactory  among  our  knowledges,  things  about 
which  we  affirm  with  the  greatest  assurance  tliat  we  do  abso- 
lutely know,  they  are  knowledges  of  which  we  can  convey  no 
adequate  conception  to  minds  that  are  wholly  out  of  the  plane 
of  the  experience.  The  language  of  experience  is  intelligible 
only  to  those  who  have  something  in  common  by  which  to  in- 
terpret it.  I  was  never  so  impressed  with  this  fact  and  its  im- 
portance as  during  the  preparation  of  these  lectures.  Certain 
passages  of  Scripture  have  come  to  have  an  emphasis  of  mean- 
ing which  I  had  not  before  discovered  in  them  :  "  The  natural 
man  receiveth  [or  knoweth]  not  the  things  of  the  Spirit  of  God  : 
for  they  are  foolishness  unto  him  :  neither  caii  he  know  them, 
for  they  are  spiritually  discerned  ; "  '*  It  is  given  unto  you  to 
know  the  mysteries  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  but  to  them 
[that  are  without]  it  is  not  given;"  "Except  a  man  be  born 
again  [or  born  from  above],  he  cannot  see  [or  discern]  the  king- 
dom of  God  ; "  "  If  I  have  told  you  earthly  things,  and  ye  be- 
lieved not,  how  shall  ye  believe  if  I  tell  you  of  heavenly  things  ?  " 
The  import  of  which  is,  spiritual  experiences  cannot  be  appre= 
bended  by  an  unspiritualized  mind.  To  speak  of  them  to  such 
is  to  speak  in  a  practically  unknown  tongue.  The  spiritual  man 
lives  in  a  world  of  spiritual  things  which  to  him  is  perfectly 
plain,  but  which  is  wholly  foreign  to  an  unspiritualized  mind. 
Some  things  all  minds  have  in  common  concerning  which  they 


14  PHILOSOPHY  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE. 

are  mutually  intelligible  to  each  other ;  but  the  spiritual  man 
has  entered  a  realm  which  is  foreign  to  his  unspiritual  friend, 
and  when  he  speaks  of  it  there  is  nothing  common  between 
them  to  interpret  his  meaning — his  speech  is  unintelligible. 
This  is  so  important  that  I  dwell  for  its  further  illustration. 
When  two  men  understand  tlie  same  language,  so  long  as  they 
converse  together  in  it  they  are  intelligible  to  each  other ;  but 
if  one  of  the  two  knows  a  language  which  the  other  does  not, 
and  he  commences  to  use  that,  all  connection  is  cut  off  between 
them  as  completely  as  if  they  had  nothing  in  common.  '  It  is  so 
when  cne  speaks  of  an  experience  of  which  the  other  has  no 
analogous  experience.  He  may  employ  a  language  every  term 
of  which  is  understood,  but  he  cannot  make  himself  intelligible. 
Take  two  men,  one  of  whom  is  blind.  Both  have  perfect  use 
of  the  same  language,  and  on  most  subjects  they  converse  intel- 
ligibly to  each  other;  but  on  one  subject  speech  to  the  blind 
man  becomes  utterly  unintelligible,  meaningless:  the  subject 
of  color.  To  understand  the  meaning  of  that  term  he  must 
have  what  he  has  not — eyes.  Without  eyes  he  is  left  to  mere  con- 
jecture. To  the  one  who  has  eyes  nothing  is  plainer,  and  to  those 
who  have  eyes  no  speech  is  more  intelligible  than  that  which  re- 
lates to  color.  It  is  easy  to  convey  the  idea  of  the  minutest  shades 
of  difference  in  colors.  The  same  rule  applies  to  flavors,  sounds, 
and,  indeed,  all  matters  of  sensation.  It  is  no  less  applicable  to 
matters  merely  subjective — matters  of  consciousness.  In  order 
to  intelligibility  there  must  be  something  in  common. 

Mutual  experiences  make  mutual  intelligibility  under  the 
greatest  embarrassments.  The  soul  has  many  languages  through 
which  it  communicates  to  kindred  souls — not  one  through 
which  it  can  communicate  with  a  soul  wholly  alien  to  it.  Put 
a  spiritualized  soul,  whose  onl}'  speech-language  is  English,  in  a 
congregation  of  spiritualized   Gerinan  souls,  and  let  the  exer- 


PHILOSOPHY  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE.  15 

cises  of  hymn  and  prayer  and  sermon  and  sacrament  and  testi- 
mony be  cA\  in  the  unknown  tongue,  the  spiritualized  English 
soul  will  not  be  a  foreigner  ;  there  will  be,  intoning  the  unintelli- 
gible jargon  of  unmeaning  sounds,  something  wliich  it  under- 
stands— the  language  of  face  and  feature  and  tearful  eye  and 
voice  which  translates  itself  by  the  magic  of  a  common  experi- 
ence— and  the  sympathetic  souls  will  recognize  each  other.  But 
they  can  only  interpret  each  other  by  a  common  experience. 
An  unspiritual  mind  is  dead  to  spiritual  things.  It  walks  among 
them,  but  does  not  discern  them  ;  it  hears  of  them,  but  the  lan- 
guage is  unintelligible. 

It  is  because  of  this  law  that  we  find  it  impossible,  even  un- 
der the  highest  spiritual  experiences,  to  form  any  satisfactory 
conception  of  heavenly  things,  heavenly  beings,  their  modes  of 
life  and  communication  among  themselves.  Every  one  who 
has  attempted  to  think  along  these  lines  is  conscious  of  the  dif- 
ficulty. The  explanation  is,  the  experiences  are  out  of  our 
plane — there  is  not  enongh  in  common  between  us  to  enable  us 
to  form  a  conception  except  of  the  most  general  kind,  and  even 
of  such  conceptions  it  is  impossible  to  know  how  much,  if  any, 
truth  tliere  is  in  them.  The  highest  certainty  we  can  reacli  is 
that  there  is  a  spiritual  world  comprising  divers  orders  and 
grades  of  life,  from  the  Infinite  to  the  most  recent  and  infantile 
spirit,  and  that  their  life  is  the  most  exalted.  We  are  wholly 
unable  to  fill  out  or  interpret  these  general  phrases,  simply  be- 
cause they  are  out  of  our  plane  and  our  earthly  experience  has  so 
little  in  common  with  them.  In  like  manner  and  for  the  same 
reason  are  the  experiences  of  a  spiritualized  soul  unintelligible  to 
an  unspiritualized  soul.  Their  planes  are  in  this  respect  uneven — 
without  correspondence.  What  is  perfectly  intelligible  to  the  one 
is  not  intelligible  to  the  other  ;  what  moves  the  one  does  not  move 
the  other ;  what  appeals  to  the  one  does  not  appeal  to  the  other. 
2 


16  PHILOSOPHY  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE. 

Cliristian  experiences  are  the  experiences  of  a  soul  in  a  fallen 
world  ;  that  is,  the  plane  in  which  it  lives  and  by  which  all  its 
experiences  are  modified.  Its  experiences  interpret  nothing  out 
of  its  plane.  What  the  experiences  of  Adam  would  have  been 
had  he  not  sinned,  and  become  sensualized,  for  this  reason  we 
can  but  very  imperfectly  conceive.  So  far  as  there  was  in  the 
plane  of  his  life  any  thing  in  common  with  the  life  we  live  we 
find  it  not  difficult  to  form  a  sufficiently  clear  conception.  The 
general  effect  of  the  external  world  upon  him  ;  his  physical 
sensations  ;  his  love  for  Eve  ;  his  round  of  daily  employment  in 
tilling  the  garden  ;  his  growth  of  knowledge — things  of  this 
kind,  we  fancy,  there  is  enough  in  common  between  his  life  and 
ours  to  put  us  en  rapport,  so  that  we  get,  as  we  suppose,  a  tol- 
erable understanding  of  his  experiences  in  these  respects.  But 
when  we  attempt  to  pass  beyond  this,  and  try  to  think  of  his 
subjective  consciousnesses,  or  what  they  would  have  been  had 
he  not  sinned,  and  the  kind  of  man  they  would  have  made  of 
him,  we  find  ourselves  in  a  plane  which  we  cannot  travel — our 
guides  forsake  us.  What  the  daily  pabulum  of  a  sinless  soul 
in  a  sinless  world  would  be  we  do  not  know  ;  we  have  nothing 
by  which  to  interpret.  We  are  so  accustomed  to  tainted  air 
that  we  can  hardly  imagine  respiration  possible  in  any  other ; 
so  used  to  the  contact  of  evil,  its  absolute  ensvvathement  every 
moment,  that  we  cannot  conceive  life  going  on  without  it.  We 
are  so  used  to  conflict  and  trouble  growing  out  of  sin  that  we 
find  it  difficult  to  conceive  what  would  be  the  use  and  function 
of  a  life  in  a  world  where  sin  did  not  exist.  The  experiences 
of  an  unsinning  and  unsinful  soul  going  forward  through  a 
life-time  in  a  world  which  the  blight  of  sin  had  never  reached, 
in  which  nothing  existed  that  came  of  sin,  in  which  all  things 
were  in  holy  harmony ;  the  experiences  of  such  a  soul  so  in- 
sphered,  I  suspect,  if  recited  to  us  would  find  in  us  as  little 


PHILOSOPHY  OF  CHRISTTAN  EXPERIENCE.  17 

response  as  a  recitation  in  an  unknown  dialect,  it  would  have  so 
much  in  it  above  our  comprehension. 

It  ought  to  be  noted  yet  further  that  every  experience  is  col- 
ored by  the  subject  of  the  experience.  I  mean  by  this  that 
precisely  the  same  experience  reports  itself  differently  in  minds 
of  dissimilar  temperaments,  degrees  of  intelligence,  antecedent 
habits,  prejudices,  preconceptions,  education,  and  ruling  ideas. 
This  fact  must  be  taken  account  of  in  dealing  with  Christian 
experience.  The  subjects  of  Christian  experience  are  extremely 
various. 

It  is  customary  to  lump  Christians  in  a  class  and  sinners  in  a 
class,  forgetful  of  the  fact  that  there  are  wide  dissimilarities  in 
each  class.  In  a  fundamental  sense  there  are  but  the  two 
classes,  but  in  fact  there  are  the  widest  diversities  in  each  class. 

Take  the  class  sinners  as  including  all  unregenerate  men. 
The  common  fact  is  that  they  all  need  salvation  and  must  pass 
through  the  same  experience  of  conviction,  repentance,  faith, 
pardon,  and  regeneration  to  obtain  it ;  but  the  manner  in  which 
they  are  exercised  will  differ  widely  as  possible.  To  under- 
stand this  the  class  must  be  broken  up  and  viewed  in  its  several 
parts.  A  is  a  criminal  of  the  deepest  dye  ;  B  is  ignorant  and 
beastly  ;  C  has  never  indulged  in  any  excesses,  has  been  scru- 
pulously moral ;  D  is  impulsive  and  excitable  ;  E  is  cool  and 
self-governing ;  F  is  intellectual  and  thoughtful ;  G  has 
grown  up  amid  prayers  and  under  careful  Christian  nurture. 
It  is  impossible  that  these  circumstances  should  not  color  their 
experiences.  In  one  case  there  will  be  sharp  and  marked  con- 
trasts, in  another  there  will  be  no  distinctly  marked  change  ;  one 
will  enter  the  kingdom  with  a  rush  of  feeling,  another  will  feel 
but  slight  emotion ;  one  will  be  able  to  point  to  the  day  and 
hour  of  his  conversion,  another  comes  into  the  light  gradually ; 
one  is  noisy  and  clamorous,  another  is  quiet  and  silent. 


18  PHILOSOPHY  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE. 

It  is  Avorth  while  to  say  yet  farther  that  as  there  is  a  differ- 
ence between  a  Christian  experience  and  an  experience  of 
Christianity  so  also  all  of  a  Christian's  experiences  are  not 
Christian  experience.  I  moan  this:  that  Christian  experience 
is  a  peculiar  phase  of  a  sonl's  experience  touching  its  spiritual 
rektions  which  a  Christian  only  knows  any  thing  about ;  they 
are  the  specific  experiences  which  characterize  him  as  a  Chris- 
tian. But  a  Christian  is  a  man,  and  over  and  above  his  peculiar 
experiences  which  come  to  him  as  a  Christian  and  constitute 
him  such — exist  only  as  he  is  a  Christian — he  has  a  broad  belt 
of  experiences  which  come  to  him  as  a  man.  They  are  a  Chris- 
tian's experiences  but  they  are  also  the  experiences  of  men  that 
are  not  Christians,  therefore  they  cannot  be  said  to  be  Christian 
experiences. 

Christian  defined.  To  determine  exactl}'  what  is  meant  by 
the  phrase  "  Christian  experience  "  it  is  necessary  that  we  define 
the  term  Christian.  Though  the  term  is  one  in  common  use, 
and  well  understood  as  to  its  general  import,  it  is  by  no  means 
explicit.  There  are  widely  variant  meanings  attached  to  it  as 
employed  by  different  persons  even  among  ourselves.  Popular 
usage  falls  entirely  short  of  its  strict  meaning,  and  so  becomes 
not  only  confusing  but  dangerously  misleading  •  the  radical  idea 
is  wholly  lost,  and  something  else,  often  not  even  suggesting 
it,  is  put  in  its  place.  Christians  themselves,  and  not  unfre- 
quently  eminently  orthodox  Christian  teachers,  fall  into  the 
snare. 

Were  a  native  of  the  Congo  valley  asked  what  he  under- 
stands by  the  term  he  would  perhaps  answer,  "  A  Christian  is 
a  man  who  comes  in  ships  to  barter  Kew  England  rum  for 
elephants'  tusks."  A  Chinese  would  vary  the  definition  some- 
what and  say  :  "  A  Christian  is  an  outside  barbarian  with  a  white 


PHILOSOPHY  OF  CHPISTIA.V  EXPERIENCE.  19 

skin,  who  deals  in  opium  and  other  foreign  commodities."  In 
fact  tliese  are  prevalent  definitions  among  these  heathen  peoples. 
There  is  a  remote  ground  for  the  perversion.  The  people  who 
carry  on  these  nefarious  practices  publish  themselves  as  Chris- 
tians, and  are  so  recognized  in  works  of  literature  and  history 
and  in  the  popular  language  of  the  world. 

If  we  come  nearer  home  the  term,  as  popularly  employed,  is 
scarcely  less  vague  or  less  a  perversion.  Broadly,  all  who  are 
born  in  Christian  countries  are  called  Christians  :  the — worse 
than  the  average  heathen — rum-seller,  the  imbruted  sot,  the  de- 
bauchee, the  vilest  creatures,  men  and  women.  So  does  the 
name  cover  all  sin  and  shame. 

The  historian  or  statistician  defines  a  Christian  as  one  who 
is  a  citizen  of  a  Christian  state  or  commonwealth.  Webster, 
our  great  English  lexicographer,  defines  a  Christian  thus  :  "  One 
who  professes  to  believe,  or  is  assumed  to  believe,  in  the  relig- 
ion of  Christ :  especially  one  whose  inward  and  outward  life 
is  conformed  to  the  doctrines  of  Christ." 

If  we  seek  the  deeper  significance  wdiicli  professed  Christians 
attach  to  the  term  we  make  scarcely  a  nearer  approach  to  its 
true  meaning.  An  average  German  would  probably  define  a 
Christian  as  one  who  had  been  baptized  and  confirmed  in  the 
Church  of  Luther  ;  an  Anglican  would  broaden  the  definition 
so  as  to  include  communicants  of  the  Church  of  Henry  the 
Eighth  who  have  received  the  sacraments  at  the  hands  of  an 
apostolically  consecrated  priest ;  a  Romanist  would  exclude 
these,  and  limit  the  term  to  believers  in  the  infallibility  of 
Leo  XIII  and  such  as  attend  mass  and  obtain  absolution  ; 
a  liberal  of  the  modern  tj^pe  would  extend  it  so  as  to  include 
any  who  practice  philanthropy  and  have  outgrown  faith  in  a 
supernatural  revelation  or  a  divine  Christ ;  others,  more  strict, 
would  insist  that  a  Christian  is  one  who  professes  an  orthodox 


20  PHILOSOPHY  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCK 

creed  and  strictly  observes  the  rites  and  ceremonies  of  some 
evangelical  Church. 

Recently  one  of  the  Christian  weeklies  sent  ont  a  request  to 
a  large  number  of  representative  writers  and  thinkers  embrac- 
ing men  and  women  of  note — ministers  and  laymen  of  all  phases 
of  faith — asking  that  they  would  return  answer  to  the  question, 
"  What  is  it  to  be  a  Christian  ? "  * 

It  must  be  admitted  that  the  question  is  so  phrased  as  to  be 
somewhat  indefinite.  The  object  was  undoubtedly  to  elicit  an 
answer  to  the  question,  *'  What  is  it  that  constitutes  a  man  a 
Christian?"  The  demand  was  strict  definition.  The  answers 
in  most  cases  show  that  the  respondents  had  in  mind  this  ques- 
tion rather :  Who  by  the  most  liberal  construction  may  be  in- 
cluded in  the  class  Christian  ?  To  this  latter  question  strict 
definition  was  not  required,  but  merely  the  setting  forth  of 
some  comprehensive  test  characteristic.  The  answers,  therefore, 
are  not  to  be  viewed  as  definitions,  but  simply  general  state- 
ments. But  taken  in  this  looser  sense  the  answers  are  remark- 
able, as  showing  the  })Osturc  of  the  writer's  mind  with  regard  to 
the  deeper  questions.  How  does  a  man  become  a  Christian  ?  and. 
What  are  the  constitutive  elements  of  his  Christian  character  ? 

The  definitions  are  all  of  them  in  one  form  and  another  beau- 
tiful and  clear  statements  of  some  truth.  There  is  not  one  of 
them  that  does  not  affirm  a  fact  which  characterizes  a  Christian. 
Most  of  them  set  forth  a  fact  which  implies  the  existence  of 
every  other  essential  fact,  and  so  clearly  points  out  a  Christian. 
To  be  a  Christian  one  must  be  what  is  affirmed,  and  being  what 
is  affirmed  he  will  probably  be  a  Christian.  So  far  they  desig- 
nate a  Christian.  Seven  of  the  thirty  do  not  necessarily  imply 
a  Christian  at  all,  though  a  Christian  implies  them. 

Five  of  the  thirty  contain  all  the  essential  elements  of  true 
*See  note  A,  p.  180. 


PHILOSOPHY  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE.  21 

definition.  Several  approximate  definition,  and  only  fail  by 
being  too  brief.     Of  all,  Dr.  Whedon's  is  the  most  complete. 

There  is  apparent  in  most  of  those  which  approximate 
definition  a  manifest  desire  to  broaden  the  definition,  and  a 
spirit  of  compromise  which  is  not  healthful  in  these  times. 

To  determine  what  it  is  to  be  a  Christian,  that  is,  what  is  a 
Christian,  it  is  necessary  to  take  into  the  definition  an  account 
of  how  a  man  becomes  such  :  what  it  is  that  makes  him  a  Chris- 
tian. He  is  not  born  a  Christian.  He  is  not  a  Christian 
by  virtue  of  his  being  a  man.  He  does  not  make  himself  a 
Christian.  There  is  a  process  through  which  he  passes  with- 
out which  he  cannot  be  a  Christian.  It  is  what  he  is  after 
the  process,  and  at  its  outcome,  that  constitutes  him  a  Chris- 
tian, The  experiences  through  which  he  passes  in  order  to 
become  a  Christian  are  so  essential  that  he  cannot  be  a 
Cliristian  without  them — they  are  essential  and  necessary  con- 
stituents. They  must,  therefore,  be  taken  into  the  definition. 
When  these  subjective  elementary  processes  are  completed  he 
has  become  and  is  a  Cliristian,  and  not  without  or  before  them. 
They  make  him  a  Christian. 

After  he  has  become  a  Christian,  what  is  it  to  be  a  Christian 
resolves  itself  into  the  question.  How  does  he  show  himself  to 
be  a  Christian?  What  kind  of  a  man  is  he  in  subjective  temper 
and  objective  life  ?  What  is  it  in  these  respects  that  differentiates 
liim  from  other  men?  As  a  Christian  how  must  he  live?  what 
principles  must  govern  him  ?  what  must  be  the  inner  and  outer 
facts  ?  These  inner  and  outer  facts  are  essential,  but  they  are 
fruits,  not  the  constituting  essence.  The  essential  thing  is  the 
subjective  life  implanted  in  the  soul.  The  outer  expression  is 
proof  and  incident,  and  as  such  sine  qua  non,  but  to  cite  them 
and  leave  the  implanted  life  out,  from  which  they  spring  as  fruit, 
is  to  leave  out  the  constituting  essence.     The  outer  form   may 


22  PHILOSOPHY  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE. 

exist  as  imitation  merely,  and  instead  of  having  a  Christian  we 
liave  but  an  imitator,  paste  for  a  diamond,  possibly  a  sheer  hypo- 
crite without  the  reality.  The  exterior  manifestation  is  not  the 
reality,  and  it  does  not  necessarily  prove  the  reality — it  is  simply 
external,  and  may  be  put  on.  The  inner  subjective  life  is  the 
essential  thing,  and  when  it  exists  the  external  form  must  exist 
as  growth  or  product  of  the  essence,  and  not  as  mere  imitation 
— it  is  the  necessary  form  which  the  life  principle  takes.  Chris- 
tianity is  not  put  on,  but  is  put  in,  as  leaves  are  not  put  on  a 
tree  but  spring  from  the  constituting  germ.  As  a  tree  without 
leaves  would  be  a  deformity — in  fact,  could  not  exist — so  a  pro- 
fessed Christian  without  the  fruits  of  holy  character  would  be  a 
monstrosity — not  a  Christian. 

There  are  two  errors  to  be  avoided — both  equally  fatal ;  the 
error  of  supposing  one  can  be  a  Christian  by  clothing  himself 
with  mere  objective  moralities ;  and  the  no  less  dangerous 
error  of  assuming  the  possibility  of  subjective  grace  existing 
apart  from  external  moralities.  The  subjective  life  is  the  soul, 
the  exterior  life  the  body.  "When  out  of  a  holy  soul  we  have 
a  holy  life,  we  have  a  Christian — not  otherwise ;  "  the  good 
tree  is  known  by  its  fruits."  It  is  the  vital  germ  at  last,  how- 
ever, which  determines  the  quality  both  of  the  tree  and  the 
fruit.     Tlie  essential  thing  is  the  vital  germ. 

It  should  be  remembered  that  neither  the  tree  nor  the  fruit 
is  always  or  necessarily  what  it  seems  to  be.  We  cannot, 
therefore,  judge  infallibly  by  appearance.  Yet  we  must  judge 
by  appearance,  with  the  reservation  that  He  who  searcheth  the 
heart  only  knoweth  what  is  in  man,  and  his  judgment  is  a  right- 
eous judgment. 

It  should  be  remembered  further  that,  after  all,  and  despite 
the  wide  latitude  of  indefiniteness  attached  to  the  term,  there  is 
and   can  be  no  indefiniteness  in  the  fact.     The   term  has  its 


rillLOSOniY  OF  CHRISTIAISf  EXPERIENCE.  23 

metes  and  bounds — its  inclusions  and  exclusions.  It  does  not 
embrace  all.  It  does  exclude  some.  We  may  broaden  or  nar- 
row it,  but  it  will  not  alter  the  fact. 

What  then  is  the  meanin*^  we  attach  to  tlie  term  in  the  following 
lectures  ?  Our  answer  must  be  in  two  parts.  First,  negatively : 
A  Christian  is  not  such  by  virtue  of  his  having  been  born  in  a 
Christian  country,  or  of  Christian  parents  ;  or  by  having  been 
baptized  and  confirmed  in  a  Christian  church  by  an  apostolically 
consecrated  priest,  bishop,  or  pope ;  or  by  the  personal  accept- 
ance or  belief  of  the  most  orthodox  scriptural  creed  ;  or  by  the 
strictest  observance  of  holy  rites  and  sacraments ;  or  by  reiter- 
ated professions  of  faith  and  of  regeneration  ;  or  by  the  most 
exemplary  external  moralities  and  careful  ritualistic  rules  of 
living;  or  l>y  noble  charities  and  philanthropies.  These  may 
all  liave  more  or  less  relative  values ;  some  of  them  are  neces- 
sary concomitants  as  incidents  and  fruits,  but  they  may  all  exist 
and  still  the  essential  thins^  be  wanting. 

Second,  jpositively :  A  Christian  comprehensively  is  a  child 
of  God  by  regeneration.  This  is  the  all  inclusive,  absolutely 
essential  thing.  It  presupposes  and  is  conditioned  by  certain 
antecedents,  and  does  not  exist  without  them;  these  are  convic- 
tion of  sin,  repentance,  faith,  and  forgiveness.  Regeneration, 
which,  as  matter  of  experience,  always  follows  or  is  coetaneous 
with  these  subjective  states,  and  never  precedes  them  or  occurs 
without  them,  is  the  culminating  fact,  and  is  result  of  a  direct  act 
of  God  upon  the  soul,  by  which  it  is  engrafted  into  Christ  and 
becomes  participant  of  his  life,  and  so  becomes  a  Christian  soul. 
By  the  divine  life  thus  imparted  the  forgiven  soul  is  delivered 
from  the  guilt  and  bo7idage  of  sin,  and  has  implanted  in  it  a 
principle  of  righteousness  which  makes  the  sin  which  it  for- 
merly loved  hateful  to  it ;  purifies  its  affections,  desires,  and 
motives,  and  strengthens  its  will  to  the  obedience  of  the  law  of 


24  PHILOSOPHY  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE. 

God,  and  fills  it  with  love  to  God  and  nniversal  love  to  man. 
From  out  this  soul,  thus  renewed  with  a  new  life,  emanates  if 
unhindered,  as  a  fountain  flows  from  a  perennial  spring,  a  contin- 
uous stream  of  virtuous  and  holy  living.  The  process  by  which 
this  great  change  is  brought  about  is  a  divinely  established 
order,  and  the  consciousness  of  the  soul  in  passing  through  it 
and  living  it  constitutes  Christian  experience.  To  become  and 
be  a  Christian  one  must  have  this  conscious  experience.  To  the 
virtuous  and  holy  living,  which  includes  all  duty  toward  God, 
and  toward  men,  and  meaner  things,  and  toward  the  person 
himself,  which  springs  from  the  newly  implanted  life  germ, 
should  be  added  the  inward  experiences  of  conscious  faith  and 
trust,  and  holy  motive  and  purpose,  and  the  peace  and  joy 
which  Gods  give  to  them  that  love  him.  The  total  experience 
is  that  of  afiiliation — the  consciousness  of  sonship. 

It  is  not  a  necessity  of  this  definition  to  assume  that  all  real 
Christians  are  equally  conscious  of  having  passed  through  these 
successive  stages  of  experience,  or  that  they  shall  in  every  case 
be  able  clearly  to  discriminate  these  elements  to  themselves,  much 
less  logically  state  them  to  others.  This  indeed  is  certainly  not 
true ;  but  the  absence  of  a  vivid  consciousness  of  such  subject- 
ive phenomena  does  not  necessarily  imply  their  non-existence. 
With  many,  each  special  stage  in  the  process — awakening,  pen- 
itence, faith,  the  assurance  of  pardon,  the  inward  transforma- 
tion— is  matter  of  vivid  consciousness  and  absolute  certainty  : 
with  other  many,  who  give  abundant  evidence  of  their  thor- 
ough Christian  character  by  their  fruits  in  temper  and  their 
practical  daily  life — the  great  inward  fact  of  their  filial  relation 
to  God — there  is  no  such  vivid  consciousness.  The  former 
speak  confidently,  often,  perhaps,  overboldly,  of  their  experi- 
ence. The  latter  speak  with  trembling  modesty  and  even 
hesitancy  if  they  speak   at   all — they  can  fix  no  day  or  date 


PHILOSOPHY  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE.  25 

when  tlie  great  plienomenal  change  took  place  :  thej  do  know, 
however,  that  they  love  God,  and  their  lives  are  redolent  of 
grace — full  of  the  fruits  of  righteousness.  That  in  every  case 
there  has  been  the  great  subjective  change,  the  inward  trans- 
forming experience,  however  dimly  perceived  in  its  successive 
stages,  there  can  be  no  rational  doubt.  The  total  outcome  of 
the  regenerate  life  of  the  soul  is  the  same  in  each  case  of  gen- 
uine Christian  character. 

Personal  temperament,  environments,  habits,  education,  and 
such  modifying  influences,  which  vary  so  widely,  furnish  the 
explanation  to  a  large  extent  of  the  diverse  experiences  among 
those  who  give  full  evidence  of  genuine  Christian  character: 
"  There  is  a  diversity  of  operation  but  one  Spirit "  and  the 
same  result. 

It  is  no  part  of  the  purpose  of  these  lectures  to  undertake  to 
prove  that  there  have  been  and  are  men  in  abundance  who 
have  passed  through  the  experience  here  described.  The  tes- 
timony of  millions  all  along  through  the  Chi-istian  ages,  from 
Paul  the  chief  est  of  the  apostles  to  the  most  recent  convert, 
must  be  relied  on  to  establish  that  fact.  If  it  fail  no  other 
evidence  on  that  point  could  be  of  any  avail. 


26  PHILOSOPHY  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE. 

LECTURE    2. 
IMPLICATIONS    AND    CONDITIONING    GROUNDS    OF    EXPERIENCE. 

There  are  three  conceivable  ways  of  dealing  with  the  alleged 
facts  of  Cliristian  experience.  These  are — first,  to  deny  them 
and  resolve  them  into  mere  delusion  or  hypocrisies.  But  as  the 
facts  are  facts  of  consciousness,  attested  by  a  vast  multitude  of 
intelligent  and,  by  every  proof,  conscientious  and  honest  wit- 
nesses, it  is  obvious  that  this  ground  cannot  be  maiutained. 
Denial  becomes  mere  effrontery.  To  make  it  good  would  re- 
quire that  men  suppose  they  have  consciousness  which  they  do 
not  have,  or  that  the  vast  multitude  of  witnesses  in  the  case 
are  a  set  of  knaves  who  have  conspired  through  the  ages  to  im- 
pose upon  their  fellows  by  declaring  that  they  are  conscions  of 
things  of  which  they  are  not  conscious.  This  explanation  may 
be  satisfactory  to  minds  utterly  blinded  by  prejudice  but  can 
have  no  weight  with  candid  and  sensible  men.  Men  will  still 
believe  that  a  fact  of  consciousness  is  knowable,  and  men  will 
still  believe  that  when  a  vast  multitude  of  good  men  testify 
that  they  have  been  and  are  conscious  of  certain  states  of  feel- 
ing they  really  are  so  conscious.  As  a  philosophy  the  theory 
of  delusion  or  hypocrisy  is  a  failure — has  nothing  to  rest  upon. 

The  second  conceivable  method  is  to  admit  the  facts  of  con- 
sciousness and  explain  them  as  the  product  of  delusive  ideas. 
In  this  theory  the  feelings  are  admitted  to  be  real  but  ground- 
less ;  the  offspring  of  mere  imagination — chimeras.  The  theory 
is  that  the  mind  invents  or  accepts  the  idea  of  God,  and  the 
idea  of  a  law  of  God  which  he  imposes  on  man,  and  the  idea 
that  man  is  under  obligation  to  obey  this  law,  and  the  idea 
that  he  has  broken  the  law  wliicli'  he  ought  to  have  kept, 
and  the  idea  that  his  breach  of  the  law  has  made  him  gtiilty, 


PHILOSOPHY  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE.  27 

and  the  idea  that  he  is  exposed  to  punishment,  and  the  idea  of 
an  atonement,  and  the  idea  of  repentance  and  faith  as  a  con- 
dition of  forgiveness.  They  postulate  that  in  point  of  fact  there 
are  no  realities  answering  to  these  ideas  ;  but  the  Christian  per- 
suades himself  to  believe  there  are  answering  realities.  Out  of 
this  belief  of  his  springs  the  feeling  of  guilt,  and  the  feeling 
of  repentance,  and  the  feeling  of  pardon,  and  all  other  feelings 
which  go  to  make  up  what  is  called  Christian  experience.  The 
feeling  of  guilt  exists,  but  there  is  no  guilt ;  the  feeling  of  par- 
don exists,  but  there  is  no  pardon  ;  and  the  other  feelings  ex- 
ist, but  all  of  them  are  product  of  a  mere  belief  of  the  mind 
self-invented  and  self-imposed.  All  there  is  in  the  case  is  a 
set  of  fancies  and  a  set  of  feelings  which  grow  out  of  them. 
These  feelings  are  called  Christian  experience.  This  is  the 
only  theory  of  negation  or  dissent  which  approaches  a  philoso 
phy.  It  is  an  attempt  at  a  philosophy,  and  it  is  not  without 
some  plausible  grounds,  which  it  is  due  should  be  stated. 

It  is  a  fact  that  mere  fancies  do  produce  the  profoundest  feel- 
ings, together  with  the  profoundest  conviction  of  the  reality  of 
things  which  do  not  exist ;  as,  for  instance,  a  man  passing  a 
grave-yard  in  a  dark  night  sees  a  white  object — a  bone  six 
inches  high.  His  imagination  transforms  it  to  a  ghost.  It 
towers  up  to  the  height  of  six  feet ;  it  moves  and  approaches 
him  and  gesticulates.  He  sees  its  waving  shroud;  he  detects 
its  human  features ;  he  is  profoundly  moved  with  terror.  It 
was  not  a  ghost ;  it  was  but  a  bone.  His  idea  of  it  trans- 
formed it  and  it  terrified  him.  Thus  a  fancy  has  power  to 
move  us. 

In  fact  all  subjective  feelings  arc  awakened  by  thoughts. 
The  mental  action  is  always  first.  Feeling  responds  to  the 
conception  in  the  mind.  All  movement  in  the  spiritual  world 
is  from  ideas  ;  all  experience  subjective  is  born  of  ideas. 


28  PHILOSOPHY  OF  CHRISTIAK  EXPERIENCE. 

This  fact  explains  the  terror  awakened  bj  superstitions.  Any 
thing  supposed  to  be  real  awakens  in  the  consciousness  a  cor- 
responding feeling.  Errors  when  accepted  and  believed  affect 
the  mind  just  as  truths  do.  This  law  must  be  admitted. 
There  is  no  possibility  of  rejecting  it. 

It  is  a  just  question,  therefore,  Does  this  fact  in  any  way 
affect  the  validity  and  apologetical  value  of  Christian  experi- 
ence ?  If  so,  how  and  to  what  extent?  and  what  is  the  treat- 
ment required  ?  We  are  compelled  to  answer,  it  does  have  a 
direct  bearing  and  demands  consideration.  If  the  experiences 
can  be  explained  as  the  product  of  delusive  ideas,  as  any  feel- 
ing may  be,  that  being  shown  it  takes  all  virtue  out  of  Chris- 
tianity and  reduces  it  to  the  common  level  of  any  other  super- 
stition ;  that  is,  shows  that  there  is  nothing  in  it  but  delusion, 
and  a  delusion  which  springs  from  delusion.  If  the  theory 
could  be  made  good  that  the  experiences  are  the  offspring  of 
chimeras,  as  it  is  admitted  they  sometimes  are,  the  sho\ving 
would  destroy  the  sj'stem. 

What,  then,  becomes  necessary  to  determine  the  case  ?  To 
this  we  answer,  nothing  is  necessary  as  to  the  experiences 
themselves.  These  are  admitted  to  be  genuine.  The  whole 
matter  involved  turns  upon  the  question,  Are  the  ideas  out  of 
which  the  experiences  emerge  chimeras — mere  fancies — per- 
versions of  reality  ?  This  must  be  determined  by  the  mental 
laws  by  which  we  try  and  test  the  validity  of  our  ideas  or  of 
the  objects  of  our  conception. 

What  is  necessary  to  the  theory  proposed  is  to  show  that  its 
assumption  is  true — that  is,  that  there  are  no  realities  answer- 
ing to  the  ideas  out  of  which  the  conscious  experiences  or  the 
subjective  feelings  arise.  The  debate  turns  upon  the  truth  of 
these  ideas.  Christianity  is  responsible  to  make  them  good. 
Doubt  is  responsible  for  the  showing  that  they  are  chimerical. 


PHILOSOPHY  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE.  29 

The  ideas  declared  to  be  chimerical  are  these  :  The  personality 
of  man,  the  existence  of  God,  the  existence  of  moral  law,  the 
fact  of  human  guilt,  the  experience  of  pardon. 

It  is  obvious  that  the  sponsors  for  this  theory  have  set  aliard 
task  for  themselves.  It  will  take  some  time  to  work  out  all 
tliese  points.  It  will  require  some  sturdy  wrestling  to  prove 
that  God  is  a  chimera.  It  will  take  still  more  time  to  convince 
the  average  man  that  there  is  no  such  thing  as  human  sin 
while  its  blistering  sores  are  felt  in  every  soul  and  revoltingly 
visible  in  every  hamlet.  It  would  be  interesting  to  see  the 
defenders  of  this  theory  put  the  case  to  a  jury,  and  hear  the 
argument  by  which  they  would  prove  that  murder  and  lust  and 
incest  and  cruelty  and  the  rum  fiend  are  immaculate.  But  I 
commend  to  these  theorists  to  begin  the  defense  of  their  theory, 
not  by  grappling  with  either  of  the  points  mentioned,  but  with 
this  rather :  that  they  may  get  their  faculties  in  good  trim  for  other 
lieavy  work  let  them  explain  to  us  how  a  molecule  got  into  tlie 
business  of  invention  and  how  it  became  such  an  adept  as  to  evolve 
in  every  human  soul  the  entire  ethical  code.  When  they  shall 
have  answered  this  question  it  will  be  time  to  set  them  to  some 
other  tasks  which  their  theory  involves. 

We  cannot  here  enter  tlie  polemic  on  any  of  these  points,  as 
we  have  only  days,  and  not  years,  for  the  discussion.  It  is  safe 
to  say  that  the  advocates  of  the  theory,  wdien  they  contemplate 
the  difficulty  of  the  task  before  them,  will  never  undertake  its 
defense  ;  and  it  is  also  safe  to  assume  that  the  mention  of  the 
matters  which  the  theory  involves  condemns  it  to  prompt  and 
inevitable  rejection  as  irrational  and  impossible.  It  perishes  by 
mere  statement — without  an  argument.  Its  existence  in  any 
mind  is  in  proof  that  that  mind  has  never  considered  it ;  that  it 
exists  purely  as  an  irrational  prejudice.  To  call  it  a  philosophy 
is  to  dignify  stupidity  with  a  worthy  but  desecrated  name. 


30  PHTLOSOPHY  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE. 

If  any  thing  more  should  be  necessary  as  a  justification  for 
dismissing  this  theory  without  argumentative  refutation,  it  will 
be  found  in  the  statement  and  defense  of  the  third  theory.  Its 
unfolding:  and  rational  defense  contains  the  refutation  of  all 
competing  theories. 

The  remaining  theory  is  that  which  we  defend — the  Christian 
theory.  It  is  based  on  the  truth  of  consciousness  and  the 
honesty  of  those  who  affirm  that  they  are  conscious  of  certain 
subjective  experiences.  It  affirms  the  facts.  Its  mode  of  ex- 
plaining them  is  that  they  have  real  grounds.  It  adduces  what 
these  real  grounds  are.  The  grounds  adduced  must  be  adequate 
to  account  for  the  subjective  effects  developed  in  experience. 
It  finds  in  the  adequate  conditioning  grounds  the  real  source  of 
the  conscious  effect.  A  rational  explanation  is  reached.  We 
have  thus  all  the  requirements  of  a  philosophy  of  Christian 
experience. 

We  have  seen  that  every  other  theory  put  forward,  and  every 
other  conceivable  theory,  fails  not  only  to  explain  the  facts,  but 
also  that  they  must  be  rejected  on  other  grounds  of  error  and 
falsehood.  To  inadequacy  they  add  inadmissibility  as  irrational, 
and  not  merely  as  irrational  but  as  impossible.  They  meet 
none  of  the  requirements  of  a  philosophy.  They  are  mere 
"  hruta  fulminay 

When  there  are  several  theories  whnch  seem  equally  adequate 
to  account  for  phenomena,  and  when  none  of  them  contain  in- 
admissible elements,  the  mind  may  be  left  in  duhlo  as  to  which 
shall  be  accepted  as  the  actual  theory.  But  when  there  is  but 
one  theory  which  will  account  for  the  facts,  and  when  against 
that  theory  no  real  objection  can  be  urged,  that  theory  of  right 
demands  acceptance ;  it,  on  rational  principles,  has  right  of 
way. 

That  is  precisely  the  case  we  have  here,  which  we  shall  now 


rniLO SOPHY  OF  CHRTSTIAy  EXPERIENCE.  81 

proceed  to  show.  The  point  is  to  show  the  adequate  grounds 
of  Christian  experiences.  For  any  experience  tliere  must 
exist  certain  conditioning  and  adequate  causes.  No  experience 
is  uncaused. 

To  put  clearly  before  us  our  task  we  restate  in  brief  the  ex- 
perience the  philosophy  of  which  we  are  to  render.  It  embraces 
live  discrete  facts  of  consciousness  :  («)  Consciousness  of  guilt ; 
(]))  consciousness  of  repentance ;  (c)  consciousness  of  faith ; 
{d)  consciousness  of  pardon  and  forgiveness ;  {e)  consciousness 
of  a  new  life  springing  in  tlie  soul;  with  other  subsequent 
experiences  which  need  not  here  be  mentioned.  The  contents 
of  these  phenomena  of  consciousness  will  be  more  fully  de- 
veloped in  subsequent  lectures. 

Our  first  business  will  be  to  state  what  are  the  implications 
of  the  experience.  It  is  true  that  any  experience  furnishes  its 
own  proof  and  cannot  be  required  to  furnish  any  other;  and  it 
is  also  true  that  any  experience  is  j)roof  of  all  its  necessary 
implications  and  conditioning  grounds.  Its  existence  demands 
their  existence.  The  knowledge  of  any  effect  contains  in  it  the 
knowledge  that  whatever  is  necessary  to  its  existence  exists.  But 
to  render  a  philosophy  of  an  experience,  or  any  effect,  it  is 
necessary  to  consider  and  understand  what  the  conditioning 
implications  are,  and  to  furnish  a  rational  vindication  of  tliem 
if  necessary ;  in  any  event  they  must  be  vindicable.  If  an 
alleged  implication  is  beset  with  insurmountable  difficulties — is 
not  rationally  vindicable — the  theory  is  driven  to  the  expedient 
of  alleging  mystery ;  that  is,  the  admission  that  there  is  no 
philosophy,  that  is,  no  rational  explanation,  of  the  j)lienomena. 
In  such  a  case  the  mind  is  disturbed  with  uncertainty.  The 
ground  of  rational  certitude  is  taken  from  under  it,  not  as  to 
the  experience,  about  which  it  is  impossible  it  should  be  un- 
certain, but  as  to  the  alleged  implications  or  conditioning 
3 


32  PHILOSOPHY  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE. 

grounds.  In  the  presence  of  insurmonntable  difficulty  as  to  the 
alleged  conditioning  grounds  the  mind  is  rationally  shaken  as 
to  it,  and  is  compelled  to  entertain  the  thought  that  possibly 
there  is  some  other  explanation  ;  that  is,  possibly  the  true 
philosophy  has  not  now  been  reached.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  the 
alleged  conditioning  grounds  of  the  phenomena  are  adequate 
to  explain  them,  and  if  they  are  rationally  vindicable,  and  if 
none  other  can  be  alleged,  the  inevitable  conviction  is  that  we 
have  reached  the  real  explanation,  and  the  mind  settles  dowu 
into  certitude  and  content.  It  has  reached  the  solid  ground  of 
philosophical  certainty. 

]S^ow,  what  are  the  implications  of  Christian  experience  ?  The 
facts  are  not  the  implications ;  they  are  the  experience.  The 
implications  are  whatever  is  necessary  to  their  existence — those 
things  without  which  the  experience  could  not  be.  What  are 
they?  Keep  in  mind  what  tlie  experiences  are,  and  follow  us 
while  we  find  their  implications. 

We  start  with  the  first  experience  named  :  sense  of  guilt. 
This  is  common  to  all  souls. 

Now  the  adequate  explanation  of  the  sense  of  gui'.tisthe  fact 
of  sin  ;  and,  as  we  have  seen,  there  is  and  can  be  no  other  ex- 
planation. The  knowledge  by  the  soul  that  it  is  guilty  includes 
not  simply  a  feeling  of  guilt,  but  a  knowledge  of  the  reality  of 
that,  whatever  it  is,  which  makes  it  feel  guilty.  That  which 
creates  the  sense  of  guilt  is  the  knowledge  the  soul  has  of  the 
fact  that  it  has  sinned.  The  reality  of  sin  no  man  can  dispute. 
That  which  we  inquire  after  now  is  what  implications  underlie 
this  fact  of  guilt. 

AVhat  is  guilt  ?  It  is  desert  of  punishment  for  violating  a  law 
whicii  ought  to  have  been  obeyed,  and  which  the  violator  knew 
anil  felt  ought  to  liave  been  obeyed.     This  is  not  a  mere  lexical 


pniLOSoniY  OF  christian  experience.  33 

definition  of  the  tci'ni.  It  is  the  exact  meaning  which  the  sonl 
itself  attaches  to  it  when  it  predicates  guilt  of  itself  ;  it  is  just 
what  is  in  consciousness.  When  it  says  I  am  guilty  it  means 
to  affirm  I  have  broken  a  law  which  I  knew  I  ought  to  have 
kept,  and  my  consciousness  is  that  I  am  condemned — I  feel  it, 
I  know  it.  Every  soul  knows  perfectly  what  it  means  by  having 
precisely  that  experience. 

31y  first  jJohit  is  that  the  experience  of  guilt  is  conditioned 
on  the  spiritual  nature  of  man. 

Guilt  is  spiritualistic.  It  demonstrates  tlie  spiritual  world. 
If  there  were  no  other  fact  it,  standing  alone,  necessitates  that 
its  subject  should  be  a  self-conscious,  intelligent,  free,  responsible 
spirit.  It  is  impossible  to  predicate  guilt  of  a  thing  under  the 
law  of  necessitation.  Let  any  one  undertake  to  conceive  of  a 
beino;or  thing  that  has  no  intelligence,  no  self-consciousness,  that 
knows  nothing,  being  guilty  and  feeling  guilty,  he  will  imme- 
diately discover  that  it  is  impossible  for  him  to  think  it ;  or  let  him 
conceive  of  a  being  that  is  driven  by  necessity,  that  has  no  power 
in  itself  to  determine  its  states  and  acts,  that  it  is  w^hat  it  is  by 
imposed  constitution,  and  does  wMiat  it  does  with  no  power  to  the 
alternative,  he  will  find  no  difficulty  to  think  such  a  being,  but 
he  will  find  it  impossible  to  attach  the  idea  of  guilt  to  it;  for 
that  he  must  find  another  kind  of  subject :  an  intelligent  and 
self-determining  being  and  one  who  has  the  idea  and  feeling  of 
oughtness,  or  obligation  to  a  definite  course  of  action.  If  the 
molecular  universe  is  under  the  law  of  necessity,  which  is  the 
last  and  unquestioned  deliverance  of  science,  the  very  norm  of 
science,  the  molecular  universe  excludes  guilt.  In  that  realm  it 
cannot  be  found — it  cannot  even  be  thought  as  possible.  Its 
presence  proclaims  a  non-molecular,  that  is,  a  spiritual,  subject. 
The  same  result  follows  from  all  other  phenomena  of  Christian 


84  rniLOSOFHY  OF  CimJSTIAN  EXPERIENCE. 

experience :  repentance,  faitli,  pardon,  regeneration,  adoption. 
These  predicates  require  as  conditioning  ground  a  spiritual 
being.  Trj  to  think  of  a  molecular  being,  a  being  composed  of 
material  atoms,  a  compound  of  "  carbonic  acid,  water,  and 
aunnonia" — Huxley's  definition  of  man — organized  and  driven 
by  necessity,  assuming  to  itself  to  be  an  ego,  and  then  predicat- 
ing of  itself  I  am  guilty,  and,  on  the  ground  of  guilt  for  being 
Avliat  it  is  by  necessity,  repenting,  exercising  faith,  and  suppli- 
cating pardon,  and  then  receiving  pardon  from  the  being  who 
made  it  what  it  is  ;  and  it  will  at  once  be  discovered  how 
utterly  absurd  and  ridiculous  the  thing  is.  Nothing  is  plainer 
than  that  guilt  and  pardon,  and  all  their  attendant  and  conconu- 
tant  experiences,  require  a  spiritual  subject,  under  law  but  free 
as  to  its  action,  and  possessing  alternative  power.  Christian 
philosophy  is  responsible  for  this  underlying,  conditioning 
postulate.  It  rests  upon  it.  If  it  can  be  shaken  the  ground  of 
both  guilt  and  pardon  will  be  removed.  Disprove  the 
spirituality  of  man,  the  whole  theory  topples  into  chaos.  The 
phenomena  of  feeling  would,  however,  remain  to  be  explained. 
With  the  spirituality  of  man  as  conditioning  ground  the 
phenomena  are  perfectly  intelligible.  Without  it  reason  be- 
comes confounded,  and  is  compelled  to  admit  that  it  has  no 
explanation  to  offer. 

AVhile  a  non-free  being  cannot  be  guilty  by  possibility,  it  is 
obvious  that  a  being  who  knows  his  law,  and  lias  power  to 
obey  it,  and  feels  the  obligation  to  obey  it,  cannot  but  be  guilty 
if  he  violates  it,  and  only  a  free  being  can  violate  its  law.  Guilt 
demonstrates,  and  does  not  merely  render  probable,  the  per- 
sonality of  man;  that  is,  that  he  is  an  intelligent  and  free 
spirit.  There  is  no  explanation  possible  of  the  fact  without 
the  implication. 

I  have  said  that  guilt  is  spiritualistic ;  that  there  can  be  no 


PHILOSOPHY  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE.  S5 

guilt  without  a  free  personal  subject;  but  I  now  say  there  can 
be  a  free  personal  subject  without  guilt.  Guilt  necessitates  a 
personal  subject,  but  a  personal  subject  does  not  necessitate 
guilt.  There  are,  we  may  safely  believe,  millions  of  personal 
subjects  who  know  nothing  of  guilt.  But  there  is  not  one  being 
who  can  feel  guilt  and  not  be  a  free  spirit. 

The  idea  of  pardon  becomes  absurd  in  the  absence  of  con- 
scious freedom  on  the  part  of  the  subject  of  pardon.  Pardon 
for  what  ?  For  being  or  doing  what  it  was  impossible  to  the 
subject  to  avoid  ?  Pardon  by  whom  ?  By  the  being  who  neces- 
sitated the  action  ?  Both  guilt,  which  involves  personal  fault,  and 
pardon,  which  implies  penalty,  are  fatal  to  any  system  of  mate- 
rialistic necessity  ;  and  no  less  so  to  any  system  of  necessitating 
agency  of  God  in  respect  to  acts  or  states  which  are  assumed  to 
involve  guilt.  Pardon  to  an  unfree  being  is  as  absurd  as  par- 
don to  a  material  substance  for  being  influenced  by  the  law  of 
gravitation  or  any  other  law.  Right  and  wrong,  as  ethical 
terms,  are  meaningless  as  applied  to  any  unfree  act  or  state^ 
whether  in  the  spiritual  or  material  universe.  The  sense  of 
right  and  wrong  to  an  unfree  being  is  impossible.  The  sense 
of  obligation  to  one  act  or  state  as  against  another  act  or  state 
to  an  unfree  being  is  a  delusion  and  a  snare.  The  entire  eth- 
ical system  perishes  under  the  idea  of  necessity.  Thus  funda- 
mental to  all  ethical  experiences,  such  as  sense  of  obligation  to 
any  given  thing,  feeling  of  guilt  for  any  given  thing,  repent- 
ance for  any  given  thing,  or  pardon  for  any  given  thing,  is  the 
idea  of  freedom  in  the  case. 

My  second  jpoint  is  that  Christian  experience  requires  a  per. 
sonal  God,  and  is  conditioned  upon  that  ground. 

Gxiilt  is  also  theistie.  There  can  be  no  guilt  without  God. 
If  it  requires  a  free  subject  it  also  requires  a  binding  law.    There 


36  PHILOSOPHY  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE. 

can  be  no  gnilt  without  a  law  wliich  imposes  obli^^ation  on  the 
subject,  but  wliicli  at  the  same  time  does  not  necessitate  liim. 
But  a  law  which  imposes  obligation  to  obedience  must  be  anthori- 
tativ^e,  and  must  be  felt  to  be  so  ;  otherwise  neither  the  idea 
nor  sense  nor  fact  of  obligation  could  be  felt ;  and  without 
these,  and  not  simply  without  these  ideas  but  also  without  the 
absolute  fact  of  obligatoriness,  it  is  impossible  that  guilt  should 
exist.  But  a  law  to  be  obligatory  and  authoritative  must  be 
instituted  and  enforced  by  a  being  who  has  the  right  and  also 
the  power  to  enact  and  enforce  it.  Without  such  a  being  there 
can  be  no  law  and  no  guilt.  Guilt,  therefore,  has  as  necessary 
condition  precedent  God.  Allow  the  fact  of  guilt,  it  is  impos- 
sible to  disallow  the  fact  of  God.  The  possibility  of  the  one 
necessitates  the  actuality  of  the  other.  In  the  last  result  guilt 
involves,  that  is,  it  is  of  its  essence,  that  there  is  an  oughtness 
and  an  onghtnotness  ;  and  tliesc  ideas  have  no  standing-ground 
outside  of  God.  The  ethic  is  in  him  and  of  him.  Take  him 
away,  the  entire  ethical  system  perishes.  But  if  now  we  pass 
beyond  the  experience  of  guilt  to  the  experience  of  pardon  we 
find  as  an  implication  or  conditioning  ground  of  this  further 
experience  not  simply  the  idea  and  fact  of  God,  as  Author  and 
Administrator  of  law,  enforcing  obligation  ;  we  do  still  find 
this,  but  we  find  additionally  a  being  who  has  the  right  and  the 
power  to  cancel  guilt,  and  one  who  exercises  that  power  and 
right.  Fortius  implication  Christian  philosophy  is  responsible; 
that  is,  it  must  be  able  to  render  a  rational  account  of  it.  It 
demands  that  there  is  a  being  who  is  above  all  law  except  the 
law  he  finds  in  his  own  nature,  and  who  has  the  right  and  obli- 
gation to  his  own  nature  to  enact  and  administer  laws  over  all 
other  beings. 

There  is  theism  without  guilt.     Heaven  is  theistic  ;  holiness 
is  theistic ;  all  ano-els  are  theists.     There  can   bo  a  God  in  a 


PHILOSOPHY  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE.  37 

universe  in  which  no  guilt  is,  but  there  can  be  no  guilt  in  a 
universe  where  no  God  is.     Guilt  is  proof  of  a  God. 

Pardon  implies  five  things  :  {a)  that  there  is  nothing  in  the 
nature  of  guilt  that  renders  it  absolutely  irreinissible  under  all 
cii'cunistances  :  if  it  were,  pardon  would  forever  be  impossible  ; 
(J))  that  there  is  nothing  in  the  nature  of  God  or  in  his  admin- 
istrative relations  to  the  universe  that  renders  pardon  absolutely 
impossible  to  him,  otherwise  guilt  would  be  absolutely  irremis- 
sible  and  pardon  could  not  exist ;  {p)  that  in  order  to  terminate 
guilt  there  must  be  an  administrative  act  of  pardon  :  it  cannot 
terminate  itself  ;  {d)  that  there  is  a  disposition  on  the  part  of 
God  to  exercise  the  pardoning  power  ;  {e)  that  there  is  nothing 
in  the  circumstances  of  guilt,  or  in  tlie  nature  of  God,  or  in  his 
administrative  relations  to  the  universe,  which  absolutely  de- 
mands that  he  should  in  any  case  exercise  the  pai'doning  power 
unconditionally. 

These  principles  we  regard  as  of  fundamental  importance, 
but  time  will  not  permit  us  to  enter  upon  the  polemic  which 
would  be  demanded  for  their  support.  One  of  the  five,  how- 
ever, we  feel  called  upon  to  note  more  at  length ;  namely,  that 
the  fact  of  pardon  implies  not  simply  the  power  and  right  to 
pardon,  but  also  a  disposition  to  do  so.  If  God  were  not  dis- 
posed to  pardon  it  is  impossible  there  should  be  any  pardon, 
since  it  is  impossible  to  conceive  of  his  doing  any  thing  to 
which  he  is  absolutely  indisposed.  But  if  the  exercise  of  the 
pardoning  power  depended  solely  on  his  disposition  to  pardon 
it  would  require  that  it  should  be  exercised  in  every  case. 
There  could  then  be  no  distinction  between  righteousness  and 
unrighteousness  in  his  administration.  The  ethical  system 
would  be  plunged  into  chaos.  The  disposition  to  pardon  must, 
therefore,  find  a  limit  to  its  exercise  both  in  his  nature  and  in 
the  general  welfare  of  the  universe.     Thus  we  find  that  with 


S8  PHILOSOPHY  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE. 

the  disposition  to  pardon  revealed  in  the  fact  of  pardon,  there 
must  be  conditions  on  which  he  will  exercise  the  power.  The 
disposition  is  not  a  disposition  to  pardon  indiscriminately,  nni- 
versallj,  or  on  the  principle  of  arbitrary  selection,  or  in  any 
case  unconditionally.  He  will  pardon  when  the  interests  of 
righteousness,  that  is,  of  right  administration,  will  permit  it. 

The  experience  requires  as  a  conditioning  ground  not  simply 
a  personal  God,  but  an  infinitely  holy  God.  It  requires  that 
his  holiness  should  not  be  simply  the  holiness  of  immaculate 
purity  that  cannot  tolerate  moral  imparity — it  does  require  that 
— but  also  the  holiness  of  infinite  and  eternal  love,  that  must 
include  in  it  compassion  for  the  sinful,  and  that  must  in  all 
possible  M'ays  seek  to  save  any  who  may  have  sinned  ;  in  all 
possible  ways,  which  means  ways  possible  to  the  ethical  nature 
of  God  and  the  ethical  nature  of  sinning  creatures. 

My  third  point  is,  Christian  experience  is  Christie  /  that 
is,  it  requires  Christ  as  a  conditioning  ground.  That  this  is  so 
theologically  and  scripturally  is  not  what  is  meant.  That  would 
resolve  itself  into  a  mere  question  of  what  the  Bible  teaches. 
But  that  is  not  tiie  matter  we  have  in  hand.  We  are  not  at 
present  set  to  find  what  the  Bible  teaches.  That  were  compar- 
atively an  easy  task.  It  is  ours — a  much  more  diflicult  task — to 
find  the  philosophy  of  our  experience. 

And  the  point  we  now  make  is  that  the  experience  itself 
cannot  be  explained  without  Christ,  and  is  explained  with 
Christ.  No  Christ,  no  Christian  experience ;  or  no  possible  ex- 
planation of  the  experience. 

The  experitnce  to  which  we  now  particularly  call  attention  is 
that  of  pardon.  The  existence  of  the  race  as  guilty  and  needing 
pardon  is  condition  precedent  to  pardon,  and  in  a  future  discussion 
it  will  appear  that  that  fact  requires  Christ  as  its  explanation. 


PHILOSOPUY  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE.  S9 

The  guilty  race  has  its  existence  in  liim,  and  could  not  exist 
without  him,  on  fundamental  ethical  grounds,  and  not  on  mere 
scriptural  grounds ;  but  that  is  not  the  point  we  at  present  seek 
to  develop. 

The  point  we  now  make  is  that  the  experience  of  pardon  iui- 
plicates  Christ,  and  cannot  be  explained  without  him.  We 
have  already  shown  that  pardon,  which  is  an  administrative  act 
of  God,  implies  a  disposition  on  his  part  to  pardon  ;  but  we 
have  also  shown  that  the  disposition  could  not  result  in  uncon- 
ditional pardon,  since  tliat  would  subvert  the  ethical  system. 
Pardon,  if  administered,  must  be  on  conditions  which  would 
preserve  the  holiness  of  the  administration.  Christ  furnishes 
that  condition  in  his  atoning  work,  and  this  appears  in  the  ex- 
perience. The  experience  is  not  simply  pardon,  but  pardon 
conditioned  by  atonement  in  Christ.  It  is  not  pardon  without 
Christ,  but  pardon  through  Christ.  This  is  not  simply  the 
teaching  of  the  Scriptures,  but  it  is  the  experience. 

The  Christian  experience  is  that  pardon  is  received  on  two 
conditioning  grounds — repentance  toward  God  and  faith  in 
Jesus  Christ.  When  this  repentance  is  adequate  and  faith  is 
exercised,  the  soul  becomes  conscious  of  pardon,  and  not  until 
that.     Tlie  faith  is  faith  in  Christ  as  an  atoning  Saviour. 

Now  this  fact  of  the  administration  proves  one  of  two  things  : 
either  that  the  pardoning  act  is  based  upon  a  pure  fiction  and  a 
faith  which  is  utterly  false,  or  that  there  is  a  real  atoning 
Christ  who  conditions  the  pardon.  If  we  take  tlie  former  view 
it  M'ill  require  that  God  conditions  pardon  upon  a  fiction,  and 
that  in  order  to  it  he  requires  or  honors,  as  condition  precedent, 
faith  in  a  pure  fable,  and  bases  his  administration  upon  a  false- 
hood. To  escape  tliis  atonement  in  Christ  must  be  real,  and  so 
the  requirement  of  faith  be  vindicable  on  principles  of  truth 
and  righteousness. 


40  PHILOSOPHY  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE. 

How  atonement  becomes  available  to  pardon  is  a  point  to  be 
considered  further  on.  That  which  we  now  affirm  is  that 
Christ  is  a  necessary  conditioning  ground  to.tlie  experience  of 
pardon  under  the  Christian  dispensation  :  so  necessary  that  it 
cannot  be  explained  without  him.  I  cannot  here  enter  the 
polemic  as  to  the  person  of  Christ — the  question  of  his  divinity 
— a  question  having  important  relations  to  the  philosophy  of 
pardon.  What  I  do  affirm  is  that  the  experience  of  pardon  on 
faith  in  Christ  requires  a  de  facto  Christ,  and  the  de  facto  Christ 
embraced  in  the  faith — Christ  an  Atoner,  through  Avhom  the 
pardon  is  administered. 

It  is  Christie,  since  it  cannot  exist  where  Christ  is  not  known, 
and  since  it  cannot  exist  where  Christ  is  known,  except  by  faith 
in  him,  and  since  it  invariably  exists  where  faith  is  exercised  in 
him.     It  is  impossible  to  explain  it  witliout  Christ. 

I  have  said  that  Christian  experience  is  Christie.  There 
may  be  Clnist  and  an  atonement  and  possibly  no  Christian  ex- 
perience, but  there  can  be  no  Christian  experience  without 
Christ  and  his  atonement.  The  experience  is  proof  positive 
of  Christ  and  of  atonement  in  Christ. 

3£y  fourth  point  is :  Christian  experience  requires  as  its 
conditioning  ground  the  ojfice  and  icork  of  an  omnipresent 
agent,  the  Holy  Ghost.  That- this  is  a  scriptural  doctrine  no 
one  acquainted  with  the  teaching  of  the  sacred  books  M'ill  call 
in  question.  But  this  is  not  what  I  am  set  to  ascertain  and 
defend.     My  work  is  to  show  that  the  experience  demands  it. 

What  is  the  particular  experience  to  be  accounted  for  which 
requires  the  action  of  any  other  personal  agent  in  the  soul  than 
the  soul  itself  ?  The  phenomena  to  be  accounted  for  are  :  Sense 
of  guilt,  contrition  of  heart,  the  commitment  of  the  soul  to 
Godj  consciousness  of  pardon,  the  radical  revolution  of  the  sotil 


PniLOSOPIIY  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE.  41 

in  Us  affections,  and  entire  volitional  life,  and  a  consciousness 
of  the  divine  favor.  These  comprise  the  elements  of  the 
experience. 

To  account  for  these  experiences,  we  must  attribute  them  to 
the  soul  itself  as  product  of  its  own  action  pure  and  simple;  or 
we  must  find  them  as  product  of  some  other  agent  inworking 
them  by  its  sole  efficiency  ;  or  we  must  find  them  as  product  of 
the  coaction  of  the  soul  with  another  agent  operating  with  it 
and  in  it. 

Sin  is  an  act,  or  both  an  act  and  state,  of  the  soul.  Con- 
sciousness of  the  act  or  state  of  sin  might  conceivably  account 
for  the  deep  conviction  of  guilt  without  supposing  any  other 
coacting  agent.  But  I  am  safe  in  aftirming  that  it  accords 
with  the  experience  that  the  soul  is  not  alone  in  the  experi- 
ence. In  conviction  there  is  the  consciousness  of  another  with 
the  soul.  "We  think  there  can  be  no  mistake  about  this.  That 
consciousness  must  be  explained.  Repentance  is  also  an  act 
and  state  of  the  soul.  It  is  conceivable  that  the  soul  is  suffi- 
cient alone  to  account  for  it;  but  here  again  we  think  there 
can  be  no  mistake  that  there  is  the  consciousness  of  a  super- 
natural presence  with  the  soul  in  its  struggles  for  pardon.  Men 
are  not  alone  either  in  their  conviction  of  sin  or  their  repent- 
ance, or  in  their  final  act  of  faith.  There  is  throughout  the  con- 
scious coaction  of  another  with  the  soul — helping,  encouraging, 
inspiring.  No  one  who  has  passed  through  the  experience  will 
doubt  this. 

In  the  yet  deeper  experience  of  forgiveness  the  conscious- 
ness is  of  a  witnessing  to  that  fact  by  the  pardoner.  Of  this 
there  is  concurrent  testimony,  not  by  all  who  give  good  evi- 
dence of  Christian  character,  but  by  a  large  proportion  of  such. 
This  consciousness  is  to  be  accounted  for.  The  natural  explan- 
ation is  that  the  pardoner  attests  his  own  act.     Allowing  that 


42  nilLOSOPHT  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE. 

a  de  facto  pardon  has  taken  jslace,  it  is  inconceivable  that  the 
pardoner  should  not  witness  to  it — that  he  should  leave  the  soul 
to  the  hazard  of  mere  inference.  As  a  fact  he  is  present,  for 
he  is  the  Omnipresent. 

But,  if  now  we  pass  to  the  still  deeper  experience  of  the  new 
life  which  springs  in  the  soul,  this  must  be  accounted  for. 
However  there  may  be  obscurity  as  to  the  fact  of  the  direct 
witnessing  of  God  to  the  forgiveness  act,  there  is  no  uncer- 
tainty as  to  the  springing  of  a  new  life  in  the  forgiven  soul. 
There  is  no  fact  of  consciousness  more  explicit  than  this.  The 
revolution  is  complete  and  radical.  The  soul  knows  it  as  it 
knows  itself.  The  affections  change  their  objects.  What  was 
loved  is  now  hated ;  what  was  hated  is  now  loved.  The 
motives  which  were  dominant  are  displaced,  and  new  motives 
emerge.  The  masters  once  rearnant  are  driven  out  and  a  new 
king  is  enthroned.  The  whole  current  of  the  life  is  changed, 
and  this  often  in  a  moment.  The  will,  once  rebellious,  is  now 
loyaL  "  Old  things  have  passed  away,  all  things  have  become 
new" — the  man  is  born  again. 

These  facts,  for  they  are  facts,  demand  an  adequate  explana- 
tion. If  the  facts  referred  to  mere  externalities — mere  change 
of  conduct  or  the  adoption  of  new  principles,  new  governing 
ideas,  there  might  be  no  need  to  go  beyond  the  soul  itself  for 
the  explanation.  However  difficult  that  task,  a  strong  will, 
sustained  by  a  clear  conviction,  might  be  adecpiate  to  it.  It  has 
oftenoccurred  with  no  other  cause  than  self-determination.  But 
that  is  not  the  case  we  have  here  to  be  accounted  for.  The 
case  we  offer  is  totally  different.  It  is  the  case  of  a  soul  suh- 
jectively  changed — a  soul  revolutionized.  To  this,  we  affirm, 
the  soul  itself  has  no  power.  The  will  has  no  power  over 
either  the  affections  or  motives.  It  can  go  adverse  to  them, 
but  it  cannot  change  them.     The  soul  cannot  righteous  (Bush- 


PHILOSOPHY  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE.  43 

nell)  itself.  The  sources  of  this  change  must  be  from  above  or 
from  without.  The  soul  must  be  a  co-factor  in  the  change ;  it 
cannot  take  place  without  it,  but  it  must  have  the  concurrence 
and  co-working  of  a  power  superior  to  itself.  To  effect  this 
great  change,  like  passing  from  death  unto  life — in  the  fact,  a 
change  from  death  unto  life — it  requires  that  its  guilt  should 
be  purged  by  forgiveness  ;  a  guilty  soul  cannot  be  a  righteous 
soul,  and  it  requires  that  it  should  be  in  the  fellowship  of  the 
divine  life — that  the  fountain  should  be  opened  in  it.  This 
great  change  demands  God  with  and  in  the  soul  both  as  for- 
giving and  renewing. 

The  soul  has  no  power  to  revolutionize  itself.  It  has  power 
to  determine  its  volitional  activity  within  certain  limits.  It 
can  determine  to  break  off  from  sin,  but  it  cannot  purge  itself 
of  sin.  It  can  determine  to  seek  forgiveness,  but  it  cannot 
forgive  itself.  It  can,  with  divine  help,  commit  itself  to  God, 
and,  in  a  word,  do  all  that  is  required  of  it  in  order  to  its 
salvation,  but  it  has  no  power  to  save  itself.  God  onlj' 
can  save ;  God  only  can  put  his  life  into  the  soul ;  God  only  can 
revolutionize  the  affections  and  transform  the  soul  from 
the  love  of  sin  to  the  love  of  holiness.  This  act  of  new 
creation  is  not  required  of  the  soul  itself  simply  because  it  is 
out  of  its  power.  God  requires  of  it  that  it  shall  furnish  the 
conditions  within  its  power,  on  which  he  can  effect  the  great 
change  in  it  from  spiritual  death  to  spiritual  life. 

If  the  facts  of  Christian  expei'ience  are  conditioned  upon 
certain  preconceptions,  or  more  yet  upon  certain  ground  facts, 
in  such  manner  that  the  phenomena  cannot  be  explained  or 
tlieir  existence  rationally  conceived  without  the  reality  of  the 
conditioning  facts,  then  the  phenomena  become  demonstration 
of  the  reality  of  the  conditioning  grounds,  just  as  any  phenom- 
ena point  to  the  reality  of  that  which  gives  rise  to  them  or  of 


44  PHILOSOPHY  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE. 

which  they  are  phenomena.  Thouglit,  self-consciousness,  rational 
volition,  demand  a  personal  subject ;  and  where  the  phenomena 
are  found  mind  must  exist  as  conditioning  ground  or  cause. 
Form,  color,  gravity  demand  matter  and  cannot  be  explained 
without  it.  The  phenomena,  v/herever  found,  proclaim  tlic 
conditioning  ground.  In  like  manner,  the  consciousness  of 
sin,  wliich  is  but  another  name  for  the  consciousness — tliat  is, 
the  knowledge — of  the  transgression  of  law,  demands  the  exist- 
ence of  a  law  that  is  transgressed.  The  phenomena  of  con- 
sciousness demonstrate  the  existence  of  the  law.  If  the  con- 
sciousness is  tliat  the  law  is  imposed  and  binding,  and  not  a 
self-created  imagination,  the  plienomena  point  to  and  demon- 
strate an  objective  source — the  law  demonstrates  a  lawgiver 
just  as  certainly  as  guilt  demonstrates  a  law-breaker.  So,  far- 
ther, if  the  breaking  of  the  law  involves  guilt- — tliat  is,  liability 
to  punishment  and  personal  demerit — the  guilt  incurred  by  tlie 
violation  of  law  demonstrates  the  freedom  of  the  violator,  since 
guilt  cannot  attach  to  any  necessitated  act.  Thus  the  fact  of 
human  sin,  attended  witli  the  phenomenon  of  conscious  guilt, 
demonstrates  the  existence  of  God  as  lawgiver,  the  personality 
and  responsibility  of  man  as  a  free  personal  being,  and  the 
entire  substance  of  an  ethical  system. 

If,  further,  among  the  phenomena  of  Christian  experience 
there  emerges  the  consciousness  of  pardon  this  phenomenon 
proclaims  a  pardoning  power  in  the  administration  of  the  moral 
system  who  has  authority  to  suspend  or  restrain  the  penalties 
affixed  to  violations  of  law.  If  the  pardon  is  consciously 
obtained  through  or  at  the  end  of  repentance  and  faith  as  con- 
ditioning ground,  and  if  the  faith  required  and  exercised  is 
faith  in  Jesus  Christ  as  an  Atoner  and  Saviour  in  some  way  and 
for  some  cause,  then  the  pardon,  consciously  experienced,  can 
only  be  explained  by  the  i-eality  of  Clirist  and  his  redeeming 


PniLOSOPEY  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE.  45 

act.  It  arises  solely  on  tliis  ground.  The  experience  is  moral 
demonstration  of  the  reality  of  tlie  conditioning  cause  of  the 
phenomena  of  pardon  and  forgiveness.  If  pardon  is  attended 
with  a  life  implanted  or  a  conscious  renovation  or  regeneration 
of  the  soul  receiving  the  pardon,  the  accompanying  regenera- 
tion demands  the  regenerating  agent  just  as  much  as  any 
effect  demands  its  approj)riate  cause.  All  effects  are  signs — 
phenomena  of  causes. 

I  name  as  final  conditioning  fact  to  Christian  ex2)erience  the 
truth  and  knowledge  of  revelation.  There  is,  and  can  be,  no 
Christian  experience  outside  of  the  knowledge  of  the  Bible  and 
the  knowledge  communicated  in  the  Bible.  This  I  affirm  is  a  fact. 
The  fact  shows  that  the  Bible  is  a  necessary  conditioning  ground 
to  the  experience. 

Upon  the  announcement  of  this  postulate  the  question  imme- 
diately springs  in  3'our  minds,  What  of  the  heathen,  and  what 
of  infants,  and  what  of  the  multitude  of  souls  who  cannot  be 
said  to  have  any  proper  knowledge  of  any  spiritual  truth  ?  To 
this  question  I  answer,  it  is  certain  that  neither  a  heathen 
who  has  never  heard  of  Christ,  nor  an  infant  who  as  yet 
knows  nothing,  nor  an  immature  or  imbecile  intellect  that 
has  no  ethical  possibilities,  can  be  a  Christian  or  have  all  the 
elements  of  Christian  experience.  They  all  lack  the  necessary 
conditions  of  Christian  experience,  which,  in  smn,  is  the  knowl- 
edge of  God  as  he  has  revealed  himself  to  men  in  his 
holy  word  and  in  Jesus  Christ,  his  Son.  That  is  a  fact  which 
cannot  be  disputed. 

My  thesis  does  not  require  me  to  deal  further  with  the  ques- 
tion, but  simply  to  point  out  the  grounds  of  Christian  experi- 
ence and  furnish  a  rational  explanation  of  it.  I  might  pass  on 
without  giving   further  attention  to  the  side  question   which 


46  PHILOSOPHY  OF  CHRISTIAN'  EXPERIENCE. 

spi-ings  in  your  minds,  but  jou  would  not  be  satisfied  with 
that,  I  ain  sure. 

What  of  the  heathen?  what  of  infants?  what  of  imbeciles? 
I  have  said  thej  cannot  be  Christians.  Does  any  l)ody  doubt 
it?  But  must  they  then  be  lost?  Why  should  they  be  lost? 
For  not  being  what  it  is  impossible  they  should  be,  and  that 
b}'  no  fault  of  their  own  ?  Did  God  ever  require  an  impossi- 
bility ?  Who  will  dare  to  say  so  ?  Did  he  ever  condemn  a  soul 
for  not  being  or  not  doing  what  it  was  forever  impossible,  with- 
out fault  of  its  own,  it  should  be  or  do  ?  Who  dares  to  say  it  ? 
There  is  a  great  temptation  to  branch  off  into  a  theological  dis- 
cussion, but  I  must  demonstrate  my  theory  of  the  will  by  re- 
sisting the  temptation.  The  subject  is  fully  discussed  in  Studies 
in  Theology. 

I  think  it  must  appear  to  all,  to  say  the  least,  a  very  re- 
markable fact  that  the  phenomena  which  emerge  in  Christian 
experience  demand  precisely  those  conditioning  grounds  which 
have  been  cited,  and  which  are  laid  down  in  the  Scriptures  and 
cannot  be  explained  without  them.  When  a  theory  is  pro- 
pounded on  a  given  subject,  the  scientific  norm  for  determin- 
ing the  truth  of  the  theory  is  that  the  theory  accounts  for  all  the 
facts.  When  it  does  this,  and  the  facts  cannot  be  accounted  for 
in  any  other  way,  the  theory  itself  is  considered  as  rationally 
established.  This  is  precisely  the  case  we  have  here.  The 
facts  to  be  accounted  for  are  of  the  class  of  facts  best  known — 
the  facts  of  consciousness — facts  of  experience.  The  specific 
facts  are,  a  human  soul  conscious  of  guilt,  a  human  soul  con- 
scious of  repentance,  a  human  soul  conscious  of  pardon,  a  human 
soul  conscious  of  a  radical  change  in  its  loves,  aspirations,  motives, 
emotions,  purposes,  all  its  subjective  ethical  feelings  and  perma- 
nent states ;  as  to  all  these  a  new  creature.  The  conditioning 
grounds  alleged  as  explanatory  of  the  facts  or  ^^henomena  are  the 


PHILOSOPHY  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE.  47 

soul,  a  free  responsible  being,  a  law  broken,  a  sovereign  Lawgiver, 
a  Redeemer,  through  whom  pardon  is  extended,  a  renewing  Holy 
Spirit  by  whom  the  soul  is  regenerated.  These  conditioning 
grounds  adequately  account  for  the  phenomena,  and  there  is  no 
other  possible  way  of  accounting  for  them  ;  and  so  the  phenom- 
ena point  to  and  demonstrate  the  ideality  of  tlie  conditioning 
grounds. 

It  is  in  noticeable  harmony  with  this  tliat  those  who  deny 
any  one  of  these  fundamenta  to  Christian  experience,  say  tlie 
personality  of  the  human  soul,  or  the  personality  of  God,  or  the 
historical  verity  of  Jesus  Christ  and  his  redemptive  work,  or 
the  personality  and  office  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  one  or  all,  are  sure 
also  to  deny  the  reality  of  Christian  experience  and  resolve  the 
whole  series  of  phenomena  into  sheer  delusion  or  absolute  hy- 
pocrisy;  and,  contrariwise,  those  who  make  small  account  of 
Christian  experience  are  certain  to  be  skeptical  on  one  or  all  of 
these  fundamenta.  The  two  interests  are  so  inseparably  inter- 
blended  that  one  invariably  and  by  logical  necessity  carries  the 
other.  The  essence  of  Christianity  requires  both  and  perishes 
in  the  absence  of  either. 

The  statement  here  made  does  not  render  it  necessary  to  af- 
firm that  among  sects  which  theoretically  deny  some  of  these 
fundamenta,  say,  the  redemptive  work  of  Christ,  or  the  proper 
Godhood  of  Christ,  or  the  office  and  work  of  the  Holy  Spirit 
as  a  distinct  personality,  or  the  implied  doctrine  of  the  Trinity, 
there  are  no  Christians.  Such  an  affirmation  would  be  unchar- 
itable and  without  support  of  evidence.  Without  doubt  there 
is  a  spiritual  instinct,  a  faith  of  the  heart,  that  many  times  goes 
deeper  than  a  creed,  and  not  unfrequently  adverse  to  it.  It  is 
not  for  us  either  to  judge  or  dogmatically  affirm  as  to  what  may 
be  the  possibilities  of  grace  under  the  embarrassments  of  a  de- 
fective creed ;   nor,  further,  is  it  necessary  to  deny  that  an  ex- 


48  PHILOSOPHY  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE. 

perience  of  saving  grace  equivalent  to  a  Christian  experience  as 
ground  of  peace  and  ultimate  salvation  may  be  attained  even  by 
a  heathen  soul  who  never  heard  of  Christ  or  the  Holy  Ghost. 

What  we  do  affirm  is  that  the  fundaraenta  named  are  indis- 
pensable conditions  of  Christian  experience  and  of  all  saving 
experience,  whether  they  are  recognized  or  not.  That  the  clear 
apprehension  of  them  is  important  to  a  clear  experience  cannot 
be  reasonably  doubted.  That  intellectual  confusion  with  regard 
to  any  one  of  them  tends  to  obscure  all  spiritual  consciousness  of 
grace  we  are  compelled  to  believe;  but  that  a  de facto  redemp- 
tion may  be  made  available  by  the  Holy  Spirit,  whose  office  and 
even  whose  existence  is  dogmatically  denied,  grace  triumphing 
over  defects  of  intellectual  apprehension,  we  also  do  not  find  it 
possible  to  doubt.  Hindered  by  mental  obscuration,  the  soul 
may,  and  probably,  I  think  I  may  say  certainly,  often  does,  find 
its  way  to  the  all-loving  Saviour  imperfectly  conceived  of. 

We  hold  as  axiomatic  that  any  sincere  and  earnest  soul,  under 
any  dispensation  or  in  any  possible  outward  darkness,  honestly 
and  according  to  its  best  light  seeking  God,  will  find  its  wry  to 
him,  and  by  means  of  a  redemption  wrought  by  Christ,  even  if 
it  have  no  knowledge  of  it  or  him,  will,  by  the  ever-present 
Holy  Spirit,  come  to  salvation;  but  thougli  a  soul  so  circum- 
stanced may  be  saved  through  Christ,  it  cannot,  by  reason  of  its 
circumstances,  have  a  Christian  experience,  but  only  the  essen- 
tial equivalent  of  it.  Ko  other  view  can  be  held  Mathout 
consigning  to  inevitable  destruction  the  entire  heathen  world, 
which  in  all  the  ages  ]3ast  and  at  present  comprises  almost  the 
entire  mass  of  mankind.  Of  the  exact  processes  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  in  regenerating  the  heathen,  and  also  in  regenerating  in- 
fants, nothing  is  revealed  and  nothing  can  be  known.  To  doubt 
that  there  is  a  process  is  to  impeach  the  administration  of  Jeho- 
vah with  diabolical  cruelty  and  injustice. 


PHILOSOPHY  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE. 


LECTURE    8. 
A2n"ECEDENT  HISTORY  AND  PRINCIPLES  WHICH  COLOR  EXPERIENCE. 

Tlie  universe  is  a  free  j)roduct  of  God.  To  say  that  lie  liad 
a  purpose  in  its  creation  is  only  to  say  that  he  is  an  intelligent 
being  and  acts  as  such.  To  say  that  that  purpose  was  the 
highest  possible  is  only  to  say  that  he  is  the  infinitely  wise  and 
good.  That  purpose  must  have  had  respect  both  to  himself 
and  to  the  universe  to  be.  For  himself  it  could  have  been  no 
less  a  purpose  than  his  own  highest  glory — that  is,  that  the 
total  outcome  should  most  perfectly  accord  with  his  infinite 
perfections,  should  most  perfectly  manifest  them,  and  should 
so  serve  his  own  highest  blessedness  of  perfect  self-content.  It 
is  impossible  to  conceive  that  he  should  have  proposed  any 
thin*  less  than  this  for  himself  without  ascribinor  to  him  moral 
defect  of  some  kind.  For  the  universe  itself  his  purpose  must 
have  been  that  it  should  be  so  planned  and  made  as  to  attain 
in  the  total  outcome  the  highest  good  that  could  possibly  be 
secured  to  created  existence,  for  to  aim  at  any  thing  less  than 
this  would  imply  moral  defect — that  is,  defect  in  goodness.  If 
infinite  wisdom  could  have  devised  any  thing  better  than  that 
which  was  devised,  and  if  infinite  power  could  have  caused  it 
to  be,  infinite  goodness  must  have  purposed  it,  unless  we  su2> 
pose  that  infinite  goodness  could  prefer  and  did  prefer  that 
which  is  not  best  to  that  which  is  best,  which  is  a  contradic- 
tion. The  result  is  that  the  universe  that  is  comprehending 
the  total  outcome  is  the  best  possible  to  its  maker,  most  per- 
fectly manifesting  his  glory,  and  to  the  greatest  possible  degree 
securing  his  blessedness,  and  at  the  same  time  having  secured 
to  it  the  greatest  good  possible  to  infinite  wisdom,  power,  and 
goodness.     All  of  which  is  but  sayiug  that  a  person  possessed 


50  PHILOSOPHY  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE. 

of  perfect  wisdom,  perfect  power,  and  perfect  goodness,  and 
acting  out  these  attributes,  must  choose  and  execute  the  best 
thing  possible. 

Any  system  made  to  seiwe  the  ends  of  infinite  wisdom  and 
goodness  must  be  regulated  by  law.  Lawlessness  is  chaos. 
The  universe  exists,  therefore,  under  law.  The  source  of  law  is 
not  only  by  i-ight  but  of  necessity  the  author  of  the  system. 
The  system  includes  its  laws  and  does  not  exist  apart  from  them. 

In  the  natural  system  the  will  of  the  author  is  law  and  con- 
formity is  enforced  by  his  power.  In  the  ethical  system  his 
will  is  law  enjoined  upon  the  subject  but  conformity  is  not  en- 
forced, but  left  at  the  option  of  the  subject,  with  amenability. 

Under  the  natural  sj'stem  the  quality  of  the  thing  made  is 
concrete — posited  in  its  creation  ;  that  is,  it  serves  just  the  end 
it  was  created  to  serve.  In  the  ethical  system  the  subject  is 
created  with  powers  inherent,  but  his  ethical  quality  is  self- 
determined  by  the  use  he  makes  of  his  power.  Voluntary,  un- 
enforced conformity  or  disconformity  to  his  law  determines 
his  quality.  His  quality  is  not  concreated  but  is  self-pro- 
duced. Under  the  ethical  system  there  must  be  a  period  and 
opportunity  during  which  the  subject  shall  furnish  the  proof 
what  his  volitional  course  and  disposition  will  be  with  respect 
to  his  law — that  is,  what  manner  of  being  he  will  determine 
himself  to  be.  This  period  is  called  probation.  There  is  no 
place  for  probation  in  the  natural  system  ;  it  is  a  necessity  in 
the  ethical  system. 

Under  probation  the  subject  determines  his  quality,  and 
there  is  no  other  way  in  which  it  could  be  determined.  It 
cannot  be  concreated ;  it  must  be  self-originated.  It  may  be  to 
infinite  wisdom  foreknown. 

When  the  quality  of  the  subject  has  been  finally  self-de- 
termined by  his  volitional  conformity  or  disconformity  to  the 


PHILOSOPHY  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE.  51 

law  enjoined  upon  him,  it  is  a  real  quality  of  righteousness  or 
unrighteousness,  as  the  case  may  be,  and  will  at  the  end  of  pro- 
bation be  irreversible — that  is,  such  that  he  will  not  reverse  it. 
The  quality  thus  self-superinduced  must  determine  how  the 
subject  shall  be  disposed  of  under  law.  There  is  an  immut- 
able ethical  necessity  that  he  should  be  disposed  of  accord- 
ing to  his  character  of  righteous  or  unrighteous. 

Man  is  a  spirit,  and  as  such  he  comes  under  the  law  of  the 
spiritual  world  and  not  under  the  law  of  things.  Christian 
experience  is  of  the  Spirit  and  is  purely  spiritual.  It  is  to  be 
interpreted  wholly  from  this  stand-point. 

Now,  what  is  the  law  of  the  spiritual  as  contradistinguished 
from  the  law  in  the  natural  world  ?  In  the  natural  world  the 
reigning  law  is  that  of  necessity — all  effects  are  necessitated 
effects.  One  all-embracing  and  comprehensive  power  explains' 
every  thing.  All  events  are  forced  and  directed  by  one  sover- 
eign will.  It  is  pure  monergism.  Were  this  the  only  consti- 
tution the  univeree  would  be  reduced  to  mere  things  driven  by 
necessitating  force.  Under  such  a  system  it  would  be  impos- 
sible to  introduce  or  locate  the  idea  of  responsibility  anywhere 
below  the  necessitating  agent.  Upon  such  a  foundation  it 
would  be  impossible  for  an  ethical  system  to  arise.  Pure  mo- 
nergism excludes  ethics.  Nature  knows  no  ethics.  Through- 
out all  its  realm  the  word  ought  finds  no  place,  and  that  simply 
because  of  its  reigning  law.  The  law  of  the  spiritual  world  is 
fundamentally  difierent.  Spirits  are  free,  self-determining  be- 
ings. They  are  not  driven  by  necessity  either  from  within  or 
without.  The  sources  of  their  action  are  subjective — that  is, 
self-inhering.  The  constitution  under  which  they  exist  is  that 
of  free  personal  powers.  Any  interpretation  of  them  and  their 
expression  must  recognize  this  fundamental  law  ;  but  though 
free  powers  they  are  not  without  laws  for  their  government. 


52  PHILOSOPHY  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE. 

As  they  are  different  in  constitution  from  things,  thej  being 
self-determining  powers,  and  things  being  not  powers  at  all, 
but  mere  concrete  expressions  of  a  power  by  which  they  exist, 
so  they  are  different  in  governing  laws,  the  laws  of  things  be- 
ing simply  the  rules  of  action  of  the  being  who  constitutes 
them  and  drives  them,  and  the  laws  of  free  spirits  being  rules 
of  action  enjoined  upon  them  by  their  creator  for  their  gov- 
ernment, but  to  the  obedience  of  which  they  are  free — that  is, 
not  necessitated — but  are  held  responsible ;  that  is,  are  under 
obligation  of  duty  and  are  answerable  for  delinquency. 

The  spiritual  Avorld  exists  and  is  administered  under  this 
fundamental  constitution  over  all  realms  where  it  is  found  for 
ever  and  ever.  It  is  the  fundamentum  of  an  ethical  system. 
Any  exj^eriences  in  the  spiritual  world  are  to  be  interpreted 
by  it. 

Of  the  spiritual  world  our  knowledge  is  limited,  but  there  is, 
and  necessarily  must  be,  one  reigning  constitution  throughout. 
Under  that  constitution  it  is  certain  that  every  responsible 
spirit  has  to  undergo  some  kind  of  a  probation  upon  the  out- 
come of  which  its  ultimate  destiny  depends.  There  are  and 
can  be  no  untested  responsible  spirits  in  the  universe.  Proba- 
tion is  a  necessary  inclusion  of  any  ethical  system  administered 
over  fallible  beings.  As  it  is  a  necessity  to  a  moral  being  that 
he  should  be  free  to  his  law,  so  it  is  a  necessity  that  it  should 
be  possible  for  him  to  break  his  law  and  come  under  its  con- 
demnation. Probation  simply  means  a  period,  long  or  short, 
during  which  there  shall  be  a  fair  and  adequate  opportunity 
furnished  to  establish  the  fact  whether  a  free  being  will  per- 
manently respect  the  obligations  of  duty,  and  at  the  end  of 
which,  having  had  a  fair  trial,  he  shall  be  answerable  for  his 
conduct.  Tlie  implications  of  a  probation  which  sliall  termi- 
nate in  a  fixed  ethical  character,  and  ultimate  ethical  state  of 


PHIL 0 SOPHY  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE.  53 

reward  or  penalty,  are  not  simply  that  tlie  trial  shall  have  been 
beneficently  fair,  but  that  during  the  trial  the  sul)ject  shall  have 
assumed  an  attitude  to  obligatory  law  which  to  it  is  of  its  own 
choice  final.  Until  that  stage  is  reached  it  is  impossible  that 
probation  should  terminate,  under  a  beneficent  system. 

The  exact  circumstances  under  which  other  spirits  not  of 
the  human  race  have  undergone  their  probation  are  unknown 
to  us.  There  is  room  for  great  possible  diversity.  We  will 
not  enter  the  field  of  conjecture. 

WJcat  is  probation  f  It  will  aid  to  the  right  understanding  of 
the  case  if  we  give  yet  more  specific  attention  to  what  is  involved 
in  the  idea  of  probation.  The  term  itself  means  to  try  or  test ;  a 
method  of  trying  and  testing.  When  applied  to  a  person  it  means 
that  he  is  subjected  to  tests  to  determine  his  ethical  quality,  that 
is,  that  he  may  furnish  the  proof  of  what  manner  of  person  he  is, 
and  will  permanently  be.  But  the  object  of  probation  is  not 
simply  to  determine  the  quaUty  of  the  person  tested,  but  that, 
the  quality  being  determined,  a  basis  may  be  furnished  for  the 
proper  disposition  of  the  person  tested.  In  the  case  of  man,  or 
any  spirit,  the  end  of  the  testing  or  probation  is  that  he  may 
furnish  the  proof  of  his  etliical  quality,  and  so  be  assigned  his 
permanent  proper  place  under  ethical  law. 

Kow  there  are  several  implications  in  this  which  need  to  be 
noted  and  which  must  determine  the  righteousness  of  the 
proceeding. 

I  note  then,  first,  in  order  to  an  ethical  probation  the  ethical 
idea  must  exist  in  the  probationer ;  tliat  is,  there  must  be  the  idea 
of  right  and  wrong,  and  there  must  be  felt  obligation  to  the 
right.  In  a  universe  where  these  correlate  ideas  did  not  exist 
there  could  be  no  ethical  character,  and  so  no  ethical  tests. 


54  PHILOSOPHY  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPEPJENCE. 

I  note,  second,  the  subject  ninst  be  put  under  law  wliich  en- 
joins the  right,  and  creates  in  the  subject  the  feehng  of  obliga- 
tion to  it,  which  necessitates  that  the  subject  should  know  the 
law,  and  sliould  feel  not  only  obliged  to  it  but  obliged  by  it, 
because  it  enjoins  what  the  subject  believes  to  be  right.  The 
ethical  quality  of  the  act  of  obedience  demands  not  only  that  the 
law  should  be  kept,  but  that  it  should  be  kept  because  the  sub- 
ject believes  that  it  ought  to  be  kept.  It  is  this  sense  of  ought- 
ness  which  puts  ethical  quality  in  the  act  of  obedience,  not 
simple  obedience  itself, 

I  note,  tliird,  that  in  order  to  ethical  probation  the  subject 
must  not  only  know  his  law  and  feel  under  obligation  to  obey  it, 
but  he  must  be  fully  able  to  obey  it,  and  at  the  same  time  must 
have  power  to  disobey  it.  For  if  he  have  no  power  to  obey  it 
it  is  impossible  that  he  should  be  under  obligation  to  obey  it, 
and  it  is  also  impossible  that  failure  to  obey  should  be  any  test 
of  his  ethical  quality  ;  and,  contrariwise,  if  he  have  no  power 
to  disobey  it  obedience  is  no  ethical  test.  It  follows  that  the 
subject,  while  obliged  by  the  requirement  of  the  lavv,  cannot  be 
necessitated  by  internal  or  external  force.  He  must  feel  the 
obligation  of  duty  or  ouglitness,  but  must  be  free  from  con- 
straint. It  is  this  wliicli  lifts  him  into  ethical  quality,  and  dis- 
tinguishes him  from  mere  things. 

I  note,  fourth,  tliat  not  only  must  the  subject  be  free,  so  that 
the  act  may  be  his  own  proper  personal  act  and  so  determine 
his  ethical  quality,  but  it  must,  in  order  to  be  a  real  test,  l)e 
an  act  not  simply  to  wliich  he  is  free  with  alternative  power 
to  the  opposite,  but  it  must  be  an  act  in  the  presence  of  such 
influences  to  the  opposite  as  furnish  the  proof  that  his  adher- 
ence to   the   right  is  such  that  under  no  possible  exigencies 


nriLOSOPHY  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE.  55 

of  liis  existence  it  will  ever  be  reversed.  The  test  is  a  final 
test,  and  furnishes  to  iniinite  wisdom  the  conditions  of  a  final 
disposition  of  the  case,  so  that  the  probation  ends  and  destiny- 
is  reached. 

It  thus  appears  tliat  under  any  ethical  system  the  evil  of  dis- 
conformity  to  its  law  must  be  possible  to  the  subject,  and  the 
evil  of  punishment  be  a  necessity  when  such  disconformity 
exists  by  final  choice. 

Whether  a  soul  can  be  saved  without  probation,  that  is,  for- 
ever fixed  in  happiness  without  having  passed  through  a  proba- 
tion, is  a  point  about  wliich  it  is  impossible  to  know,  but  it  is 
absolutely  certain  tliat  no  soul  can  be  condemned  or  consigned 
to  inevitable  curse  without  an  equitable  probation.  If  heaven 
may  be  given  as  a  free  gift  without  conditions,  and  if  one  ma,y 
be  perpetually  holy  without  ever  having  passed  through  the  haz- 
ards of  the  opportunity  and  temptation  to  choose  evil,  it  is  ab- 
solutel}^  an  impossible  idea,  on  ethical  grounds,  that  any  one 
should  be  consigned  to  hell  without  opportunity  of  an  opposite 
fate,  and  impossible  also  that  he  should  enjoy  heaven  without  a 
choice  of  holiness.  How  God  saves  infants  and  imbeciles  is  not 
revealed,  but  that  it  is  impossible  they  should  be  lost  is  one 
of  the  clearest  ethical  certainties  ;  and  that  it  is  impossible  they 
should  be  saved  without  a  free  adherence  to  righteousness  is 
equally  certain — holiness  is  self-determined  and  vice  versa,  and 
holiness  constitutes  heaven.  The  case  of  the  heathen  is  that 
they  are  amenable  to  the  law  under  which  they  exist,  and  under 
it  serve  their  probation. 

To  man  there  is  but  one  probation,  and  thatit  is  in  time  and 
while  he  is  in  the  body  we  believe  on  scriptural  grounds,  and  on 
no  other.    We  do  not  therefore  undertake  to  give  a  jjhilosophy  of 


56  PHILOSOPHY  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE. 

it.  We  do  see  that  a  perfectly  equitable  probation  in  wliich 
there  is  an  adequate  and  fair  opportunity  to  a  happy  issue  in 
every  case  is  an  ethical  necessity.  The  method  and  time-limit 
of  probation,  revealed  or  not,  is  one  which  infinite  wisdom  and 
goodness  will  devise,  and  which  will  approve  itself  to  the  uni- 
verse as  both  just  and  generous.  No  human  soul,  infantile,  im- 
becile, or  heathen,  exists  or  will  be  disposed  of  for  eternity  apart 
from  atonement  in  Christ,  and  no  soul  can  fail  of  the  benefits 
of  the  atonement  unto  eternal  salvation  without  personal  incor- 
rigible sin  against  the  light  vouchsafed.  These  are  points 
determined  by  immutable  ethical  principles. 

The  circumstances  under  which  a  human  soul  passes  its  proba- 
tion are  important  to  be  noted,  as  they  furnish  an  explanation 
of  its  peculiar  experiences.  There  can  be  no  philosophy  of 
Christian  experience  without  taking  account  of  them.  The 
statement  will  have  to  be  somewhat  extended,  but  will  be  re- 
duced to  as  brief  limits  as  possible. 

The  first  point  we  note  as  having  bearing  is  this,  human 
souls  have  a  racial  origin — they,  while  having  an  individual- 
ized identity,  which  separates  each  soul  from  every  other  soul 
so  as  to  make  it  a  distinct  being,  do  not  severally  exist  alone 
and  apart,  but  come  into  existence  in  a  race  order  and  derive 
something  affecting  their  state  from  heredity.  We  cannot  here 
introduce  the  polemic  on  traducianism  and  creationism. 

The  second  point  we  note  is,  every  human  soul  propagated  in 
fact  enters  upon  its  existence  and  upon  its  probation  in  an  abnor- 
mal condition,  that  is,  in  inherent  disconformity  with  its  law — a 
state  propagated  in  it.  This  fact  tinges  its  whole  experience  as 
a  soul,  and  gives  rise  to  all  the  peculiar  phenomena  of  Christian 
experience. 


rniLOSOPHT  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE.  57 

We  might  pass  on  without  further  consideration  of  this  point, 
but  the  result  would  be  unsatisfactory.  The  question  how 
abncrmalcy  came  to  be  a  fact  becomes  important  as  affecting 
points  which  will  emerge  further  on,  and  needs  a  brief  treatment. 

To  answer  this  question  we  need  to  push  our  researches 
further  back,  into  earlier  incidents  of  our  race  history. 

The  next  point  I  note,  therefore,  is,  that  the  head  of  our 
race  M-as  a  created  soul  who  was  placed  on  his  probation  in  a 
normal  state.  I  do  not  enter  upon  the  polemic  here  as  to  the 
measure  of  either  his  intellectual  or  moral  or  spiritual  endow- 
ments. The  only  point  I  make  is  he  had  nothing  intrinsic, 
and  there  was  nothing  extrinsic  in  disharmony  with  his  law. 
The  law  under  which  he  was  placed  was  suited  to  his  capacity, 
and  there  was  nothing  abnormal  in  him  or  in  his  environments 
to  hinder  or  embarrass  a  fair  probation  ;  there  was  every  thing 
in  both  respects  to  aid  to  a  desirable  outcome. 

The  next  point  I  note  is  this,  to  which  I  attach  the  greatest 
possible  emphasis ;  his  probation  was  for  liimself  alone.  It  seems 
strange  that  it  should  be  necessary  to  emphasize  this  point,  since 
it  is  in  contradiction  of  fundamental  ethics  that  it  should  have 
been  otherwise.  The  only  excuse  for  the  emphasis  is  that  a 
vicious  theologizing,  running  through  the  centuries,  has  assidu- 
ously taught  that  he  served  a  probation  for  his  unborn  posterity. 

The  next  point  I  note  is,  that  this  first  created  soul  failed 
in  his  probation  ;  that  is,  he  broke  the  law  given  him,  and  never 
given  to  any  one  of  his  posterity,  and  became  liable  to  its  penalty, 
which  was  declared  to  be  death.  The  occasion  of  the  failure 
was  temptation.  The  sources  of  the  temptation  were  external 
and  internal.    lie  was  tempted  by  a  malign  spirit.    He  was  also 


58  PHILOSOPHY  OF  CHRISTIAN  EIPEPIENCE, 

prompted  by  liis  own  constitution.  There  was  food  for  temp- 
tation stored  in  hi  in.  Tlie  law  suggested  resistance,  because  it 
forbade  something  tlie  soul  desired.  It  is  so  in  every  moral  act. 
It  is  important  to  note  the  difference  between  temptation  and 
sin,  and  also  the  difference  between  temptableness  and  sinful- 
ness. Temptation  is  not  sin.  There  can  be  no  sin  without 
temptation ;  and  also  there  can  be  no  probation  and  no  ethical 
subject  without  temptation  or  temptableness.  Temptation  is  felt 
solicitation  to  sin,  with  a  conscious  abiHty  to  comply  with  the 
solicitation  and  an  attraction  to  it.  Sin  is  the  yiekling  of  the 
will  to  the  solicitation  under  tlie  sense  of  obligation  to  the 
opposite,  and  with  power  to  the  opposite.  The  solicitation  to 
sin  does  not  mar  the  moral  integrity  of  the  tempted  soul,  nor 
does  the  feeling  of  its  attraction.  It  taxes  its  will  and  puts  it 
under  stress.  When  the  temptation  is  resisted  it  strengthens 
the  will  and  tends  to  establish  the  sonl  in  righteousness.  By  a 
series  of  resistances  of  solicitation  to  sin  solicitation  loses  its 
power,  and  there  conies  a  time  when  the  influence  of  temptation 
diminishes  to  zero,  and  the  will  strengthened  by  exercise,  or 
the  soul,  will  forever  stand  in  the  perfect  and  immovable 
integrity  of  righteousness.  AVhen  that  point  is  reached  pro- 
bation has  answered  its  end  and  destiny  is  determined — the 
soul  is  forever  sphered  in  holiness  and  the  perfect  rest  and 
peace  of  eternal  life.  So,  contrariwise,  when  the  will  yields 
itself  to  the  solicitation  of  sin  it  sins.  It  is  the  yielding  that  is 
the  sin.  With  the  yielding  temptation  acquires  additional 
power,  and  the  power  to  resist  is  weakened.  Ultimately  the 
power  to  resist  is  reduced  to  zero,  and  the  influence  of  evil  is 
raised  to  complete  dominance.  Character  is  fixed  in  irreversible 
sin,  that  is,  the  soul  has  freely  determined  itself  to  sin  by  a  free 
choice  which  under  no  circumstances  in  its  future  history  it  will 
reverse.     Probation  ends  and  destiny  begins — the  soul  is  lost. 


PHILOSOPHY  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE.  59 

It  may  be  of  advantage  to  note  the  avenue  of  temptation  to 
the  unfallen  Adam,  Doubtless  the  sources  of  temptation  are 
varied,  as  the  environing  circumstances  of  individual  spirits 
vary.  The  temptations  by  which  angels  lost  their  first  state 
are  not  revealed,  and  there  is  nothina;  in  common  between  their 
plane  and  ours  by  which  we  can  interpret  them. 

The  case  of  Adam  is  stated  and  it  is  perfectly  intelligil)le  to 
us.  His  temptation  arose  through  the  sensuous  and  intellectual 
nature  he  possessed.  His  law — a  divine  statute,  not  a  constitu- 
tional law — forbade  him  to  partake  of  a  certain  fruit.  The  law 
became  the  occasion  of  temptation.  He  desired  that  which  was 
forbidden  for  two  reasons  ;  it  appealed  to  liis  sensuous  nature^ 
it  appealed  also  to  his  intellectual  nature  It  attracted  him 
because  it  looked  as  if  it  would  be  pleasant  to  taste.  It  attracted 
him  because  it  would  broaden  his  knowledge.  He  was  so  made 
that  these  two  facts  could  not  fail  to  create  desire.  The  desire 
became  source  of  temptation.  Note,  there  was  no  sin  in  the 
desire.  That  was  natural,  and  with  his  constitution  was  inevi- 
table. It  was  tliat  fact  that  made  the  law  a  test.  If  the  for- 
bidden object  had  not  been  adapted  to  awaken  desire  there 
would  have  been  no  probation  or  no  test  in  the  case.  His  sin 
commenced  not  with  desire,  but  with  the  going  over  of  tlie  will 
to  the  choice  of  the  forbidden  thing.  All  sin  has  its  seat  in  the 
will.  The  appetites  and  passions  and  intellectual  aspirations' 
are  not  sins.  They  belong  to  the  original  furnishings  of  the 
soul.  Sin  is  volitional  indulgence  in  contravention  of  law. 
So  long  as  the  desires  are  kept  within  bounds  of  law  they  are 
proper  and  right,  serve  a  constitutional  function,  and  accoi'd 
wdth  the  will  of  God.  They  are  limited  by  law.  When  the 
will  which  is  appointed  to  govern  tliem  and  keep  them  within 
law,  turns  traitor  to  its  trust  sin  is  the  result. 

Let  us  try  to  get  as  nearly  as  possible  at  the  exact  truth 


60  PHILOSOrHY  OF  CRBISTIAN  EXFER/ENCE. 

aimed  at  by  all  these  and  similar  statements.  To  do  this,  wc 
beffin  with  the  statement  that  man  is  a  beina;  who  has  relations 
to  a  sensuous  and  supersensuous  world.  lie  was  made  for  final 
existence  in  the  supersensuous  realm.  That  was  to  be  his 
home,  and  in  its  employments  he  ^7as  to  find  his  perfected  bliss. 
His  faculties  were  to  be  awake  and  opened  to  its  realities,  and 
his  supreme  affections  to  be  set  on  it.  The  thought  of  it  was 
to  be  the  supreme  power  molding  his  life  and  pursuits.  He 
was  to  live  in  expectancy  of  it  and  nnder  its  abiding  influence. 
Supreme  love  to  God  and  absolute  subjection  of  himself  to 
God  was  to  be  the  governing  norm  of  his  life.  But  he  was 
also  placed  in  an  animal  body,  which  related  him  temporarily 
to  a  sensuous  world  which  appealed  to  him  in  various  ways, 
and  had  power  with  him  in  various  inferior  ministries  of  tem- 
poral good.  He  was  to  use  it,  but  in  subjecti  onto  higher,  super- 
sensuous realities.  The  discernment  and  maintenance  of  this 
law  of  subordination  of  the  sensuous  to  the  supersensuous 
was  to  constitute  his  perfection — it  was  his  supreme  law.  The 
introduction  of  sin  reversed  this  law — put  the  animal  supreme 
and  the  spirit  in  subjection  ;  ])ut  him  under  the  dominion  of  the 
carnal  mind  and  sensuous  lusts,  turned  all  his  loves  and  desires 
tow\ard  the  earth,  made  him  dead  to  the  supersensuous. 

This  is,  and  has  been  since  the  original  severance  of  man 
from  his  Maker  by  disobedience,  the  estate  of  man  by  nature  ; 
that  is,  by  birth.  The  animal  essentially  dominates  him — he  is 
by  degeneracy  "  of  the  earth,  earthy" — he  delights  in  an  dlives  for 
sensual  pleasure.  His  sins  all  emanate  from  this  source.  He  is 
not  spiritually  minded.  Spiritual  realities  are  undiscei-ned  and 
unloved.  The  original  law  of  his  being  is  utterly  broken. 
This  is  the  fall  of  man — his  depravity,  his  native  sinfulness 
called.  He  is  estranged  from  God  and  is  immersed  in  fleshly 
lusts  and  sensualities — under  the  dominion  of  sensuous  thius-s. 


rniLosopiiY  OF  christtan  experience.  61 

It  is  a  fact  that  the  first  attraction  which  reaches  the  soul  on 
its  entrance  upon  hfe  is  sensuous.  As  soon  as  it  begins  to  live 
a  conscious  life  or  becomes  able  to  feel  an  attraction  it  is  drawn 
by  and  to  the  world  and  the  flesh.  As  yet  it  has  no  idea  of 
the  supersensuous  or  spiritual.  It  has  no  proper  rational  life 
even.  It  is  in  an  unethical  state  ;  that  is,  the  ideas  of  right  and 
wrong  and  obligation  on  the  ethical  ground  of  oughtness  do 
not  exist  in  it.  Long  before  it  reaches  these  ideas — the  idea 
even  that  there  are  any  spiritual  realities  or  any  moral  laws — it 
has  already  become  immersed  in  sensuosity  ;  that  is,  its  whole 
thought  and  offection  and  volitionating  determine  toward  the 
earth.  It  is  completely  earth-bound.  There  is  nothing  else 
in  the  scope  of  its  vision.  It  discovers  in  the  world  life  in 
which  it  is  bound  things  which  powerfully  attract  it.  There 
is  no  counter-attraction,  for  the  supersensuous  is  wholly  un- 
known. The  earth  spirit,  which  theologically  takes  the  name 
of  depravity,  has  complete  sway  in  it.  This  is  an  important 
and  indisputable  fact. 

But,  meantime,  in  its  deepest  nature  it  is  spiritual,  and  is 
made  for  another  kind  of  life.  The  life  it  at  present,  that  is, 
during  the  reign  of  sensuosity,  lives  is  not  altogether  an  alien 
life  ;  it  pertains  to  its  constitution,  but  it  is  not  its  truest  and 
best  life ;  not  the  life  that  will  ultimately  develop  in  it,  not  the 
life  it  must  permanently  live.  Under  the  film  of  sensuosity 
which  now  invests  it  there  lies,  without  sign  of  life,  a  conscious- 
ness yet  to  be  awakened  toward  an  as  yet  unknown  supersensu- 
ous world  whose  reality  and  power  it  will  inevitably  come  to 
feel.  In  the  core  of  its  deepest,  truest  self  is  an  ethic,  a  moral 
norm — a  religion.  Wlien  this  hidden  life  shall  begin  to  de- 
velop itself  and  its  impulses  shall  begin  to  be  felt,  a  new  ex- 
perience will  develop  in  the  soul,  which  will  fii'st  appear  as  a 
schism,  a  discord,  a    warfare,    as    the  pull  of  two  conflicting 


62  FEILOSOFHY  OF  CHRISTIAN EXFERIENCE. 

attractions,  one  toward  the  objects  whicli  have  liithcrto  swayed 
it,  in  wliicli  it  has  hved  and  found  delight,  and  which  have 
become  masterful  to  it ;  another  attraction  toward  objects  and 
interest  now  for  the  first  dimly  discovered  to  it,  but  which  press 
upon  it  and  urge  it  as  of  supreme  importance :  the  attractions 
of  the  supersensuous  world  ;  the  sense  of  God  ;  the  pressure 
of  a  feeling  of  obligation  toward  him  ;  the  yearnings  after 
something  not  given  in  sense  ;  the  indistinct  outline  of  realities 
lying  beyond  time  and  away  from  the  earth  ;  voices  calHng 
to  it,  pleading  Avith  it,  urging  it — voices  which  it  cannot  hush. 
Tlie  ethical  life  begins. 

It  is  in  this  innermost  nature  of  the  soul  where  Christian  ex- 
periences are  born.  These  are  the  first  buddings,  the  dawning 
of  the  God  consciousness,  the  germinations  of  the  spiritual  life. 
Tlie  antecedent  life  of  sensualism  inherited,  while  tending  to 
sin  and  enslaving  the  soul  up  to  the  time  when  a  higher  con- 
sciousness is  awakened,  has  no  ethical  character,  and  it  never 
could  acquire  ethical  character  if  the  subject  did  not  come  to 
a  state  of  knowledge  in  whicli  he  felt  the  obligation  to  bring  it 
under  lav/.  There  is  no  sin  in  an  impulse  of  nature,  no  differ- 
ence what  it  is,  until  it  comes  into  relations  with  will  and  law. 

However  it  became  a  fact,  it  is  a  fact  that  the  human  soul 
finds  itself  in  the  earliest  stages  of  its  etoical  consciousness 
dead  to  spiritual  realities.  It  is  quite  impossible  to  determine 
at  what  stage  of  life  the  soul  conies  to  ethical  consciousness. 
It  is  certainly  not  in  early  infancy.  It  doubtless  varies  in  dif- 
ferent cases :  environments  are  influential  and  determining 
causes.  With  some  ethical  consciousness  is  awakened  much 
earlier  than  with  others.  But,  be  it  sooner  or  later,  whenever 
the  soul  attains  fully  to  that  state  it  finds  itself  assuming  an 
attitude  of  resistance  to  law,  alive  to  evil  lusts  and  sensuality, 
and  opposed   to  -  whatever  would   restrain   its  wrong-going — 


PEILOSOPHY  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE.  63 

earthly,  sensual,  and  devilish.  Sin  takes  possession  of  it  and 
makes  it  a  willing  slave.  It  is  not  wholly  depraved,  however  ; 
along  with  its  lirst  ethical  conscionsness  it  finds  itself  encom- 
passed with  redeeming  influences.  It  discerns  right  and  wrong. 
It  becomes  aware  of  something  urging  it  to  the  right,  for  the 
divine  Spirit  meets  its  dawning  consciousness.  It  is  not  wholly 
abandoned  to  evil.  Its  earthward  and  evil  tendencies  encounter 
opposition,  Init  its  inclination  is  to  evil,  and  were  it  left  wholly  to 
itself,  and  environments  without  redeeming  influences,  it  would 
immediately  sink  into  loathsome  sensuality  and  utter  depravity  : 
the  impulses  from  within  are  all  that  way  ;  and  that  it  is  not  utter- 
ly lost  and  dead  to  righteousness  is  because  redeeming  influence 
reaches  it.  If  the  depraved  impulses  are  restrained  it  is  by 
gracious  agency  from  without.  It  is  early  susceptible  to  the 
saving  and  restraining  influences  which  come  to  it  from  the 
Holy  Spirit.  It  may  be  early  saved,  before  it  comes  to  the  con- 
sciousness of  the  power  of  evil  within  it,  before  it  has  acquired 
a  relish  for  evil,  and  especially  before  it  has  come  under  the 
dominion  of  habits  of  sin  ;  but  in  that  case  salvation  must  come 
from  without.     It  cannot  save  itself. 

This  is  the  state  and  character  of  every  human  soul  when  it 
opens  into  ethical  consciousness.  Its  first  tendencies  are  earth- 
ward and  evil,  and  without  exceptions  the  tendencies  ultimate 
in  the  actual  sin  as  well  as  sinfulness  of  the  soul.  In  a  soul  in 
this  case  Christianizing  experiences  take  their  rise.  I  do  not 
doubt  but  that  this  statement  will  seem  to  put  the  soul  at 
great  disadvantage,  and  will  seem  to  impeach  God  with  un- 
generous, if  not  unethical,  treatment  of  it;  nevertheless,  that 
the  statement  is  correct,  accords  with  the  facts,  I  do  not 
doubt. 

If  we  were  compelled  to  accept  the  theological  statement, 
long  time  persistently  made,  that  the  soul  is  i-endered  guilty 


64  PHILOSOPHY  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE. 

by  heredity,  there  would  be  some  show  of  reason  for  the  alle- 
gation that  it  takes  its  existence  at  great  disadvantage,  and 
wonld  place  the  administration  in  an  nnvindicable  light  before 
the  universe  ;  or  if  it  could  be  shown  that  the  mercy  element 
introduced  into  the  administration  did  uot  place  the  soul  so 
marred  on  a  fair  footing  for  its  personal  probation,  the  same 
result  would  follow. 

But  if  redemptive  Influences  reach  it  in  its  new  needs  which 
more  than  counterbalance  its  injuries,  then  its  marring  would 
not  be  to  its  disadvantage.  If  it  gains  more  in  Christ  than  it 
lost  in  Adam  its  chances  are  improved. 

The  probation  of  an  abnormal  soul  must,  under  a  righteous 
administration,  be  planned  in  the  recognition  of  that  fact. 

It  is  customary  to  assume — and  it  is  not  peculiar  to  any  theo- 
logical system,  Arminianism  and  Calvinism  in  all  their  shades 
asserting  it — that  that  Edenic  probation,  admitted  to  be  per- 
fectly fair,  was  a  probation  in  which  the  eternal  destiny  of  the 
subject  was  involved:  Calvinism  being  responsible  for  the 
position  that  the  subject  included  all  the  unborn  souls  of  the 
human  race,  a  pseudo-Arminianism  not  unfrequently  expressing 
itself  in  a  way  that  involves  the  same  unethical  idea  :  and  as  the 
probation  issiied  in  failure  it  is  as  constantly  assumed  by  Calvin- 
ism that  by  the  failure  the  guilty  subject,  including  all  hu- 
manity, M^as  brought  under  condemnation  to  eternal  death ; 
Arminianism  meanwhile,  often  by  misstatement  saving  itself 
from  the  atrocious  idea. 

On  this  unethical  basis  Calvinism  builds  its  entire  system,  so 
replete  with  horror  that  it  makes  one  stand  aghast  to  read  it. 
I  dare  not  pursue  the  subject  further. 

Before  stating  the  true  exposition  of  that  ancient  chapter  of 
race  history,  I  raise  a  question  concerning  that  Adamic  proba- 
tion which,  so  far  as  I  know,  has  not  appeared  in  theological 


PHILOSOPHY  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE.  65 

polemics  upon  that  point.  That  question  is  this :  Where  does  it 
appear  in  the  Scriptures  that  the  probation  in  which  the  Adam 
was  phiced  was  one  wliich  involved  even  his  own  eternal  des- 
tiny ?  It  is  scripturally  and  historically  certain  that  it  did  not, 
and  we  find  ourselves  compelled  to  affirm  that  there  are  ethical 
grounds  why  it  could  not.  The  revelation  affirms  that  for  that 
sin,  and  all  other  sins  of  men  but  that  of  a  final  irreversible 
self-determination  to  evil  by  any  soul  for  itself,  an  anticipated 
remedy  was  already  prepared  before  that  first  failure  had  oc- 
curred. The  purpose  of  redemption  antedated  the  fall.  "  Tlie 
sacrificial  lamb  was  in  purpose  slain  from  the  foundation  of  the 
world."  It  was  not  an  after-thought,  an  expedient  to  meet  an 
unforeseen  contingency.  This  is  biblical,  and  it  is  also  ethical. 
The  outcome  of  that  Edenic  chapter  of  probation  and  failure 
was  not  that  the  penalty  of  the  law  was  executed  upon  the  trans- 
gressor, if  so  be  the  penalty  was  eternal  death.  If  it  was 
eternal  death  it  never  M^as  and  never  will  be  executed  upon 
any  soul  of  man.  The  sin  of  Eden  did  not  send  Adam  to  final 
perdition,  and  could  not.  That  the  penalty  of  eternal  death 
was  not  executed  could  have  been  for  no  other  reason  than  tliat 
i\.  was  not  contentful  to  the  divine  nature  that  it  should  be — 
that  is,  the  nature  of  God  w^ould  not  permit  it.  That  he  did 
not  permit  it  is  in  proof  that  for  some  reason  his  nature  would 
not  permit  it — could  not  on  some  immutable  ethical  grounds ; 
for  there  could  be  no  other  reason.  Let  us  search  more  nar- 
rowly into  that  chapter  of  probation  and  see  if  we  cannot  find 
an  explanation  that  will  shed  light  on  the  whole  transaction. 
I  am  fully  aware  that  I  am  attempting  to  ti'ead  a  perilous  edge, 
where  great  caution  is  necessary,  and  therefore  ask  critical  at- 
tention to  every  point  raised,  that  if  error  appears  anywhere  it 
may  be  pointed  out.  I  think  I  am  safe  in  saying  that  up  to 
date   no    theological   rendering    of  the  Edenic  case  has  been 


66  PHILOSOPHY  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIEKCK 

perfectly  satisfactory,  while  some  which  have  most  widely  pre- 
vailed, and  continue  to  be  put  forward,  with  great  but  faltering 
persistence,  have  irrecoverably  lost  the  respect  of  mankind.  In 
substance,  I  believe  our  Wesley  an  version  of  Arminianism  has 
most  nearly  reached  the  solution,  but  with  some  marring,  and 
with  incidents  of  disharmony  with  itself,  which  more  careful 
and  critical  statement  may  eliminate. 

In  the  examination  I  start  with  the  statement  that  I  accept 
without  reservation  the  historical  account  of  the  case  made  by 
Moses.  I  believe  it  is  a  true  and  divinely  revealed  account  of 
the  Edenic  or  Adamic  probation.  The  search  is  as  to  exactly 
what  the  account  contains,  in  the  light  of  fundamental  ethics, 
and  subsequent  history,  and  revelations  that  have  a  bearing  on 
the  subject. 

The  account  given  b}'  Moses  is  the  simplest  possible.  This 
is  its  great  merit.  There  is  nothing  outre  or  mysterious  about 
it.  The  circumstances  are  natural  and  intelligible.  It  has  all  the 
appearance  of  a  plain  unvarnished  story.  It  commends  itself 
as  probable.  There  is  nothing  in  human  knowledge  of  an  his- 
torical, rational,  scientific,  or  ethical  kind  to  throw  doubt  upon 
it.  The  deepest  philosophy  suggests  no  improvement  of  it.  It 
claims  to  have  been  received  from  God.  The  subject-matter  is 
such  as  to  exclude  the  possibility  of  any  other  authorship  on 
any  other  theory  than  that  it  is  fiction  of  human  invention.  Of 
this  there  is  no  evidence  and  much  disproof. 

The  law  was  the  simplest  possible,  but  it  served  as  a  moral 
test — that  is,  the  test  whether  the  subject  would  obey  law. 
That  was  what  it  was  for.  It  perfectly  answered  its  end. 
Would  a  more  complex  and  difficult  law  have  been  better  ? 
Who  will  affirm  it,  considering  the  circumstances  of  the  case  ? 

The  law  forbade  that  which  something  in  the  nature  of  the 
8',il)ject  craved.     This  is  important  to  bo  noted.     Could  it  have 


PHILOSOPHY  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE,  67 

been  a  moral  test  without  that  ?  Could  it  have  been  less  and 
answer  the  end  of  determining  character  ? 

The  outcome  was  that  the  subject  chose  unrighteousness. 
Simple  as  the  test  was  he  did  not  endure  it.  I  am  willing  to 
saj,  in  order  to  give  all  possible  strength  to  the  case,  that  it 
was  foreknown  that  he  would  fail.  This  fact  must  be  taken 
into  the  account  in  order  to  the  explanation  of  the  whole  case, 
and  must  give  complexion  to  it.  I  cannot  here  enter  into  the 
polemic  or  foreknowledge  further  than  to  say  that  it  had  no 
influence  whatever  as  causing  the  act  of  disobedience,  but  it 
was  influential  as  affecting  the  administration  with  respect  to 
the  act  of  disobedience.  The  whole  subject  in  all  its  bearings  is 
fully  discussed  in  the  treatises  already  referred  to.  We  have  now 
reached  the  point  in  the  history  where  objection  springs.  It  is 
said  the  subject,  considering  his  inexperience,  never  should 
have  been  placed  in  a  situation  of  such  imminent  peril.  The 
objection  is  purely  instinctive.  Has  it  been  considered  what 
the  position  means  ?  Can  there  be  an  ethical  system  without 
such  ])eril  ?  "What  is  righteous  character  but  the  free  choice 
of  right  with  the  possible  choice  of  wrong  ?  To  assume  that 
no  subject  should  be  placed  in  such  condition  of  peril  as  to 
possibly  make  a  wrong  choice  is  simply  to  assert  that  a  moral 
universe  ought  not  to  exist.  That  depends  on  what  the  foi-e- 
known  outcome  will  be.  It  is  perfectly  safe  to  affirm  that  its 
existence,  caused  by  a  holy  and  loving  God,  is  stronger  proof 
that  it  ought  to  exist  than  any  evidence  to  the  contrary  from 
purely  instinctive  judgment  of  any  finite  creature. 

But  it  is  said  that  the  foreknowledge  of  failure  in  this  case  at 
least  ought  to  have  estopped  the  peril.  That  depends  on  two 
things ;  namely,  how  this  particular  history  stands  related  to 
the  whole  ethical  system  in  all  time  and  over  all  worlds, 
and  what  else  was  foreknown  of   the   outcome  of  this  trial. 


68  PHILOSOPHY  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE. 

But  it  is  said  in  any  event  the  treatment  of  tlie  subject  is 
inexcusably  severe.  Infinite  love  ought  to  have  interfered. 
Here,  again,  we  have  the  cry  of  the  she  wolf — mere  instinct 
witliout  reason. 

Has  the  case  been  severely  treated  ?  I  am  sure  that  justice 
never  has  been  done  to  this  question.  Let  us  calmly  look  at  it 
in  a  changed  form.  How  ought  it  to  have  been  treated  and 
how  has  it  been  treated  ?  Is  there  ground  for  the  charge  of 
severity  ?  I  am  sure  that  any  thing  like  a  fair  examination 
will  secure  the  verdict  that  the  treatment  has  been  the  tender- 
est  possible — the  treatment  of  unsurpassed  and  unsurpassable 
love. 

What  are  the  facts  ?  Was  the  culprit  dealt  with  liarshly  ? 
Was  he  driven  away  in  wrath  to  irrecoverable  doom  ?  Was  he 
consigned  to  I'emediless  sin  and  everlasting  torments?  Were 
his  unborn  descendants  left  to  welter  in  the  horrors  of  inevita- 
ble sin  and  shame  as  the  result  of  his  inexcusable  deed  ?  Where 
is  it  said  ?  Shall  we  forever  continue  to  asperse  God  and  per- 
vert the  plainest  statements  of  history  at  the  dictation  of  a 
false  human  creed  on  the  one  hand,  or  the  mere  ebullitions  of 
unreasoning  instinct  on  the  other?  Is  there  to  be  no  limit  to 
the  blasphemy  against  infinite  love  ? 

What  says  the  history  ?  Does  it  not  faithfully  record  that, 
foreseeing  the  calamity,  infinite  love  had  already  provided  a 
remedy  ?  Does  it  not  show  that  the  probation,  instead  of  being 
ended  and  the  ciise  finally  adjudicated,  was  only  begun  ?  the 
first  chapter  merely  of  continuous  history  ?  Would  it  not  be 
wiser  to  be  at  the  pains  to  read  the  history  through  ? 

The  story  is  a  pathetic  one.  It  reveals  to  us  a  loving  father 
dealing  M'ith  an  erring  and  wayward  child— the  more  you  put 
in  the  sin  of  the  child  the  greater  the  tenderness  of  compassion 
on  the  part  of  the  father.     A  grievous  wrong  had  been  com- 


PHILOSOPHY  OF  CHRISTIAN'  EXPERIENCE.  69 

mitted — a  tragedy  of  evil  initiated — the  peace  of  the  universe 
disturbed,  not  by  the  eating  of  an  apple,  as  fools  flippantly 
assert,  but  by  an  act  of  disobedience  which  involved  the  clioice 
of  evil  instead  of  good ;  which  changed  the  character  of  the 
transgressing  child  ;  which  changed  his  relations  to  law  ;  which 
immutable  ethics  demanded  should  be  recognized  in  the  after- 
treatment  of  the  transgressor ;  wdiich  no  power  could  obliter- 
ate;  which  to  remedy  would  cost  an  infinite  price  of  suffering 
and  sorrow.  We  stand  at  the  open  door  of  the  greatest  tragedy 
of  all  time.  Tlie  guilty  culprit,  who,  willingly  or  not,  had 
opened  the  "  Pandora's  box  "  and  let  loose  the  fiends  of  evil  to 
raven  and  destroy,  stands  before  whom  ?  An  inexorable,  an  unre- 
lenting judge  ?  A  frowning,  lowering,  onmipotent  vengeance  ? 
No,  not  that ;  but  before  a  holy  and  compassionate  father,  com- 
pelled to  deal  with  his  offending  child  but  moved  with  pity  and 
intent  on  remedy  rather  than  punishment ;  not  moved  more  by 
justice  than  by  love — more  by  justice  tempered  by  love.  Com- 
passion intones  the  entire  narrative.  He  reproves  but  he  com- 
forts. Could  he  have  done  less  1  At  what  infinite  cost  he  un- 
dertakes to  remedy  the  breach  ! 

What  was  the  result  ?  The  sin  had  been  committed ;  it 
could  not  be  recalled.  Neither  the  sinning  child  nor  sinned- 
against  parent  had  power  to  obliterate  it.  It  must  be  dealt 
with  as  sin.     This  immutable  ethics  demanded. 

The  culprit  was  marred  in  character,  the  evil  of  sin  had  gone 
into  his  soul ;  but  it  was  by  his  own  choice.  He  was  turned 
out  of  Paradise.  It  was  prepared  for  the  sinless.  lie  had 
sinned.  Was  a  wrong  done  him  in  sending  him  away  ?  To 
assume  it  is  to  assume  that  the  sinning  and  the  sinful  should 
have  no  different  treatment — -again  the  cry  of  the  she  wolf ;  in- 
stinct against  reason. 

I  ask  critical  attention  to  the  further  statement  I  now  make. 


70  PHILOSOPHT  OF  CHRISTIAK  EXPERIENCE. 

Tliougli  turned  out  of  Paradise,  with  a  character  mari-ed  and 
with  a  nature  perverted  by  his  sin,  the  culprit  was  not  for- 
saken but  was  permitted  to  live  under  a  prolonged  probation — 
the  continued  probation  mercifully  adapted  to  his  altered  cir- 
cumstances. 

It  was  not  now  a  probation  of  an  innocent  person  to  test 
whether  under  temptation  he  would  choose  evil  instead  of 
good.  That  test  had  been  already  passed  and  he  had  deter- 
mined himself  to  evil. 

It  was  not  a  probation  to  test  whether,  now  that  he  had  be- 
come guilty,  he  would  reconsider  and  restore  himself  to  right- 
eousness. That  was  impossible.  Guilt  once  incurred  cannot 
purge  itself.  The  sinner  cannot  annihilate  the  fact  of  his  sin 
nor  remove  its  guilt  by  any  atonement  he  can  offer  or  repara- 
tion he  can  make. 

It  was  not  a  probation  under  which,  by  a  sovereign  act,  the 
culprit  was  forgiven  or  placed  under  a  less  rigorous  law.  The 
law  could  not  be  relaxed  ;  it  can  require  nothing  less  than 
righteousness  and  absolute  obedience.  Nor  can  there  be  an 
act  of  sovereign  forgiveness  for  its  violation.  Under  continued 
probation  the  law  is  neither  abolished  nor  modified,  and  under 
it  there  is  no  sovereign  forgiveness. 

It  was  not  a  probation  under  which  incurred  guilt  was  im- 
puted to  another  and  the  righteousness  of  anotlier  imputed  to 
the  culprit.  Though  a  probation  under  un relaxed  law  it  was 
not  a  probation  under  law  alone,  in  which  failure  in  a  single 
case,  or  even  many  grievous  and  continuous  failures,  closed  the 
test  and  consigned  the  culprit  to  the  doom  of  final  and  irre- 
trievable ruin,     I  call  special  attention  to  this  statement. 

The  probation  was  that  of  a  guilty  sinner,  made  such  by  his 
own  free  choice  of  evil  under  the  most  favorable  opportunity 
and  highest  motives  to  the  choice  of  good  ;  of  a  sinner  who  by 


PUILOSOrUY  OF  CIlRISriAN  EXPERIENCE.  7/ 

liis  sill  had  not  only  incurred  guilt  but  had  thereby  introduced 
into  his  nature  a  perverting  habit  and  tendency  to  evil  which 
bound  him  to  perpetual  sinning  so  far  as  any  power  himself 
possessed.  A  soul  touched  with  the  virus  of  sin  cannot  cure 
itself.  There  is  in  it  no  power  of  self-redemption.  This  it  is 
that  makes  the  deepest  evil  of  sin. 

It  is  obvious  that  probation  to  such  a  soul,  were  there  noth- 
ing more  to  be  said,  would  be  meaningless.  Where  there  is 
only  one  possible  outcome,  what  the  end  will  be  is  determined 
before  the  trial. 

We  add,  therefore,  it  was  the  probation  of  a  guilty  and  sin- 
ful soul  under  the  provisions  of  an  atonement  originated  not 
by  itself  but  by  the  infinite  love  against  which  it  had  sinned; 
an  atonement  which  was  to  be  wrought  out  at  a  great  price  of 
suffering  voluntarilj^  endured  on  its  behalf  ;  an  atonement  un^ 
der  which  its  sin,  and  any  and  all  sins  it  might  commit,  might 
be  forgiven,  audits  blighted  and  perverted  nature  be  restored 
to  normalcy,  on  one  condition:  that  it  should  yield  to  the 
mighty  persuasions  of  love  under  helpful  influences  of  a  regen- 
erating power  ever  at  hand,  which  enable  it  to  renounce  its 
sin  and  sue  for  pardon, 

I  cannot  here  enter  at  all  into  the  polemic  of  that  atonement 
in  any  aspect  of  it  as  to  its  extent  or  the  why  of  its  efficacy, 
but  rest  the  statement  here,  with  the  assertion  of  the  fact  that 
there  was  such  an  atonement  made  for  the  sinning  Adam  and 
for  all  of  his  posterity  covering  their  sin,  and  that  con- 
tinued probation  is  under  its  provisions. 

Does  this  look  like  severity  ?  Does  it  reveal  to  us  a  charac- 
ter inexorable  and  unrelenting — an  unforgiving  vengeance  as 
seated  on  the  throne  of  the  universe  ?  Is  it  hard  treatment  to 
ask  a  sinner  to  renounce  his  sins  and  sue  for  pardon  ?  Is  it 
hard  treatment  to  provide  an  atonement  for  him  at  the  greatest 


75  PHILOSOPHY  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE. 

possible  cost  when  lie  was  too  poor  and  helpless  to  provide  one 
for  himself  ?  Is  it  hard  treatment  to  bear  with  him  through 
years  of  impenitence  and  insolent  wickedness,  persuading  and 
entreating  him  not  to  destroy  himself  ?  Is  it  hard  treatment 
to  enlist  all  possible  influences  to  save  him — to  move  heaven 
and  earth  on  his  behalf  ?  Is  it  hard  treatment  if,  after  all  pos- 
sible efforts  to  save  him  he  is  still  found  to  be  impenitent,  and, 
has  made  for  himself  the  irreversible  choice  of  evil,  to  send 
him  away  to  his  own  place  ?  Where  else  should  he  be  sent  ? 
What  other  disposition  could  be  made  of  him?  If  when  the 
probation  ends  it  is  because  character  has  assumed  an  un- 
changeable type  by  the  irreversible  choice  of  evil,  and  if  at 
the  end  destiny  is  determined  by  fixed  and  incorrigible  im- 
penitence self-elected,  under  all  the  circumstances  investing  the 
trial  who  but  a  devil  dare  accuse  the  ever  blessed  God  with 
having  been  unmerciful  ?  Who  can  name  any  thing  that 
should  have  been  done  that  has  not  been  done  ? 

In  passing  away  from  the  chapter  of  initial  probation  in 
Eden  I  affirm  that  neither  Adam  nor  any  one  of  his  posterity 
ever  was  damned  to  eternal  and  irretrievable  death  for  the  sin 
■vvhich  he  then  committed. 

I  further  affirm  that  no  such  result  followed  the  act,  because 
the  nature  of  God  was  such  that  he  could  not  permit  it — such 
that  he  never  proposed  any  thing  of  the  kind — and  not  because 
of  any  change  of  mind  arising  from  unexpected  exigencies. 

I  affirm  yet  further  that  the  act  of  Eden  did  change  the  rela- 
tions between  God  and  the  sinning  Adam,  and  did  radically 
affect  the  nature  of  Adam,  introducing  into  his  soul  a  tendency 
to  sin  which  he,  left  to  himself,  had  no  power  to  reverse. 

I  affirm  that  this  new  but  foreseen  condition  of  things  was 
the  basis  of  an  atonement  sohenie  antedating  the  sin,  by  which 


PHILOSOPHY  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE.  73 

probation  was  continued  and  under  which  eternal  destiny  is 
administered. 

I  affirm  that  Adam's  sin  in  the  breach  of  the  Eden  law,  and 
all  other  sins  that  he  ever  committed,  were  his  own  sins,  and 
nobody  else's,  and  that  there  never  was  or  could  be  a  sharer  in 
]iis  guilt ;  and,  therefore,  that  the  atonement  provided  was  not 
an  atonement  for  the  guilt  of  any  one  of  his  posterity  with 
respect  to  that  act,  since  they  were  not,  and  could  not  be,  guilty 
concerning  it. 

I  affirm  still  yet  further  that  such  are  the  relations  of  Adam 
and  his  posterity  that,  by  heredity  and  natural  descent,  the 
niarrino;  which  sin  brouo-ht  into  his  nature  is  transmitted  to  his 
posterity,  and  that  all  born  of  him  receive  from  hhn  a  fatal  bias 
to  sin  such  that  not  one  of  his  line  has  ever  escaped  it ;  and 
such  that,  but  for  tlie  restoring  agencies  which  emanate  from 
the  atonement  under  which  they  take  their  existence,  they 
would  be  involved  in  utter  ruin  ;  and,  therefore,  such  as  would 
have  prevented  their  existence  had  no  provision  been  prepared 
and  made  for  its  remed}'. 

I  affirm  yet  once  more  that  while  hereditary  depravity  does 
not  involve  guilt  on  the  part  of  those  wlio  receive  it,  either  for 
the  sin  which  introduced  it  or  on  its  own  account,  it  is  an  evil 
which  must  be  removed  ;  and  that  the  atonement  provides  for 
its  removal  or  deliverance  from  its  power  on  the  same  condi- 
tions on  which  personal  sins  are  forgiven — regeneration  and 
forgiveness  being  concomitant  of  the  same  act  of  justification 
by  which  a  sinner  becomes  a  child  of  God  and  heir  of  eternal 
life. 


74  PUILO SOPHY  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE. 


LECTURE  4. 
PROCESS    AND    ELEMENTS    OF    EXPERIENCE.       FORGIVENESS. 

We  have  seen  now  how  sin  was  introduced,  that  is,  how  man 
came  under  the  miseries  of  sin.  It  is  not  our  business  in  these 
lectures  to  more  than  state  these  scriptural  deliverances.  We 
find  the  fact  of  sin  ;  this  is  God's  explanation  of  its  origin. 
We  assert  that  no  other  account  ever  has  been  given,  or  ever 
can  be  given,  which  does  not  make  God  the  direct  author  of 
sin,  and  make  him  solely  responsible  for  it.  These  facts  show, 
that  God  is  responsible  for  creating  the  possibility  of  sin,  but 
that  man  is  responsible  for  creating  the  fact  of  sin  against 
God's  expressed  prohibition  and  desire.  This  statement  is  in- 
tended in  all  its  inclusions  to  be  exact.  There  is  a  measure  of 
responsibility  on  the  part  of  God  which  must  enter  into  his 
treatment  of  sin,  for  the  possibility  of  which  his  creative  act 
had  prepared  the  way.  Let  us  try  to  find  just  what  that  meas- 
ure of  responsibility  is,  and  just  how  it  must  influence  his 
administration. 

This  will  appear  if  we  reflect :  {a)  he  made  the  subject  so 
that  he  could  sin — if  he  had  not  so  done  there  could  have  been 
no  sin  ;  (J)  he  placed  him  in  conditions  where  he  would  })e  ex- 
posed to  the  temptation  to  sin — if  he  had  not  so  done  there 
would  have  been  no  sin  ;  (c)  he  foresaw  that  he  would  sin.  Of 
these  facts  there  can  be  no  doubt,  and  in  his  own  account  of  it 
they  are  not  disguised  but  are  fully  stated.  Under  the  light  of 
these  facts  his  administration  must  be  vindicated  before  the 
universe.  His  holiness,  which  is  but  another  name  for  the  in- 
finite purity  of  his  justice  and  love,  is  involved. 

If  the  circumstances  of  the  trial  were  fair  up  to  the  point 
where  sin  emerged  there  can  be  no  real  ground  of  fault  in  the 


PHILOSOPHY  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE.  75 

divine  proceeding  up  to  tliat  point.  But  an  absolute  prerequi- 
site to  that  is  that  the  trial  should  have  been  perfectly  fair ;  that 
is,  that  the  subject  of  tlie  trial  had  complete  and  adequate 
power  to  know  and  do  what  was  required.  It  may  be 
well  to  linger  for  a  moment  here.  If  he  create  a  moral 
being  at  all  he  must  involve  tlie  possibility  of  sin.  The 
one  is  the  inclusion  of  the  other.  It  was,  therefore,  the  alter- 
native of  no  moral  universe  or  the  possibility  of  sin.  Any 
plan  of  creation  which  would  exclude  a  moral  universe,  tiiat  is, 
a  universe  with  persons,  would  reduce  him  to  tlie  necessity  of 
making  a  universe  simply  of  things,  with  no  minds  to  enjoy  it 
and  no  ethical  or  intellectual  good  to  be  enjoyed  ;  a  universe, 
therefore,  with  no  other  significance  than  simply  a  meaning- 
less exhibition  of  power  for  himself  to  contemplate — a  uni- 
verse that  could  display  no  attribute  of  either  justice  or  love  or 
the  infinite  perfection  of  holiness  in  any  form,  and  from  which 
all  ethical  enjoyment  must  be  excluded. 

If  he  create  moral  beings  he  must  put  them  under  moral 
laws.  That  which  his  conjoint  attributes  of  justice  and"  love 
require — attributes  never  separated  or  separable  in  administra- 
tion over  finite  moral  beings — is  that  he  enact  laws  obedience 
to  which  would  express  loyalty  to  essential  righteousness,  and 
disobedience  to  which  would  involve  the  essence  of  willful  sin. 
For  such  disobedience  he  must  enact  suitable  penalties,  both  as 
incentives  to  obedience  and  as  expressing  his  own  righteous- 
ness. Such  laws  must  be  level  to  the  comprehension  of  the 
creature  or  they  would  be  as  unjust  as  unmerciful.  The  law 
must  demand  nothing  difficult  of  obedience  to  the  subject  in 
view  of  his  measure  of  ability  ;  it  must,  in  other  words,  be  ad- 
justed to  the  kind  of  faculty  he  possessed  and  the  precise  envi- 
ronments in  which  he  was  placed,  so  as  neither  to  be  oppressive 
or  difficult.     It  must  furnish  him  a  fair  and  perfectly  equitable 


76  PHILO SOPHY  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE. 

chance  to  secure  all  the  good  of  obedience  and  avert  all  tlie 
evils  of  disobedience.  Nothing  short  of  this  would  render  it 
possible  to  vindicate  the  character  of  the  Creator.  And  up  to 
the  point  of  the  occurrence  of  sin  these  facts  would  furnish  a 
perfect  vindication. 

Allow  now  that  he  knew  that  the  perfectly  fair  trial  would 
issue  in  disobedience,  does  this  circumstance  in  any  way  affect 
the  question  of  how  he  should  administer  on  its  occurrence  ? 
"We  are  compelled  to  answer  affirmatively.  In  the  iirst  place 
we  are  compelled  to  answer  that  such  foreknowledge  of  the 
outcome,  wliile  it  is  admitted  that  it  would  not  lessen  the 
crime  of  disobedience,  as  mere  foreknowledge  would  in  no 
way  be  causative  of  the  act;  and  while  it  would  in  no  way 
render  the  trial  unfair,  it  must  do  one  of  two  things — namely, 
(a)  either  it  must  estop  the  creative  act  because  of  the  evil 
outcome  foreknown,  or  (Ij)  it  nmst  require  the  introduction 
of  an  element  of  mercy  into  the  administration  by  which 
pardon  would  be  jDossible,  or  the  character  of  God  must  be 
forever  unvindicable  before  the  universe.  We  assert  this,  with 
whatever  it  involves,  not  merely  as  probable,  but  as  absolutely 
certain  and  ethically  necessary,  and  we  linger  for  a  moment 
for  its  defense.  That  God  himself  so  viewed  it  is  apparent 
in  the  fact  that  he  did,  on  the  occurrence  of  the  sin,  intro- 
duce the  mercy  element  in  the  administration,  and  in  the  further 
fact  that  he  purposed  so  to  do  before  the  creative  act.  That 
he  did  so  do  he  declares  himself.  And  that  he  j)repurposed 
so  to  do  was  not  an  unethical  purpose,  but  was  so  because  his 
ethical  nature  demanded  it — because  he  could  not  be  the  eter- 
nally holy  God,  that  is,  the  eternally  just  and  loving  God,  and 
not  do  it.  The  fact  that  he  did  so  do,  and  prepurposed  so  to 
do,  prove  that  it  was  according  to  his  nature  to  do  it,  and  that 


PHILOSOPHY  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE.  77 

not  to  do  it  would  liave  been  contrary  to  his  nature.  This  is 
a  sufficient  answer,  but  it  may  be  useful  to  state  the  underlying 
principles  which  must  have  so  determined  him.  The  question 
whether  he  would  create  a  moral  being  who  he  knew  would 
sin  against  him,  and  who  he  knew  on  the  occurrence  of  sin 
would  become  accursed,  was  one  touching  his  free  act,  Now,  the 
determination  of  that  question  how  he  would  act  must  depend 
upon  what  would  be  the  outcome  of  the  act  of  tlie  creature  he 
was  to  make.  If  he  knew  perfectly  that  it  would  issue  only  in 
curse  is  it  possible  to  reconcile  it  to  any  thing  that  we  are  com- 
pelled to  think  of  God  that  he  would  proceed  to  create  with  no 
alternative  in  his  mind  as  the  means  of  averting  the  curse  ? 
What  could  move  him  to  the  act  ?  AVhat  end  of  justice  would 
be  served  ?  What  end  of  his  own  glory  in  any  possible  aspect  ? 
By  supposition  he  perfectly  knew  that  only  one  result  would 
issue ;  that,  the  eternal  and  remediless  curse  of  the  creature  he 
made.  The  thought  that  he  would  proceed  with  this  only  alter- 
native is  blasphemous.  If  this  were  the  only  alternative  pres- 
ent to  his  thought  every  attribute  of  his  nature  must  revolt 
against  the  creative  act. 

But  suppose  now  that  he  foresaw  the  sin  and  the  incurrence  of 
its  penalty,  and  along  with  it  purposed  immediately  to  intro- 
duce redemption,  at  once  the  question,  Shall  he  proceed  to  create  ? 
has  another  aspect — a  new  line  of  administration  places  the 
question  whether  he  will  create  or  not  in  a  new  light. 

The  knowledge  that  the  creation  of  a  free  being  must  involve 
the  possibility  of  sin,  and  the  foreknowledge  that  the  possibil- 
ity would  certainly  ripen  into  reality,  and  the  knowledge  that 
the  reality  would  expose  the  culprit  to  curse  and  ruin,  in  the 
absence  of  any  plan  to  avert  the  calamity,  must  inevitably  have 
arrested  the  creative  act,  unless  some  remedy  was  seen  to  be 
possible.     But  allow  the  prepurpose  to  furnish  such  a  remedy, 


78  PHILOSOPHY  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE. 

would  then  either  justice  or  love  now  stand  in  tlie  way  of  pro- 
cedure ?  Would  not  both  of  these  eternally  co-working  attri- 
butes unite  to  impel  to  the  creative  act  ?  To  this  question  there 
can  be  but  one  answer ;  that  is,  that  in  the  degree  in  which  a 
personal  universe  is  more  to  be  desired  than  a  mere  universe  of 
things  it  would  be  wise  to  proceed. 

But  still  the  question  would  emerge,  Suppose  that  it  was 
foreknown  that  the  remedy  provided  would  not  be  entirely 
effectual ;  that  some  among  myriads  would  reject  and  remain 
under  curse ;  what  then  ?  The  question  is  a  fair  one,  and  to  it 
we  have  to  answer :  The  case  must  be  reviewed  in  connection 
of  the  entire  ethical  system. 

We  think  it  is  safe  to  assume  that  if  God  foresaw  that  the 
moral  system  would  issue  only  in  disaster  he  could  not  on  any 
ethical  principles  have  created  a  moral  system.  It  is  impossi- 
ble to  conceive  infinite  goodness  as  creating  when  it  was  fore- 
known no  good,  and  only  evil,  would  inevitably,  or  even  cer- 
tainly, result  from  his  act.  The  same  principle  applies  to  any 
one  individual  in  the  moral  system  if  so  be  the  particular  indi- 
vidual could  be  estopped  from  existence  without  involving  the 
destruction  of  a  paramount  good.  But  if  it  was  foreknown 
that  among  a  vast  number  of  beings  under  moral  conditions 
some  would  certainly  bring  evil  upon  themselves,  but  that  the 
vast  majority  would  attain  to  the  greatest  felicity  ;  and  if  it 
were  impossible  to  eliminate  the  evil  without  at  the  same  time 
preventing  the  good,  it  cannot  be  shown  upon  any  ethical 
grounds  that  the  good  ought  to  be  deprived  of  existence  in 
order  to  prevent  the  self-incurred  evil  of  the  few  who  would 
come  to  grief  under  the  system. 

All  that  can  be  required  for  the  perfect  vindication  of  infi- 
nite goodness  is  that  the  system  adopted  should  be  the  best  pos- 
sible, securing   the   greatest   amount  of   good  attainable,  and 


PHILOSOPHY  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE.  79 

reducing  the  evil  to  the  lowest  minimum.  This  his  own  ethical 
nature  must  require.  If  it  were  possible  for  him  to  keep  out  all 
evil  without  also  preventing  a  paramount  good  his  nature  would 
require  this. 

Should  it  be  foreknown  that  evil  would  arise  under  the  sys- 
tem his  whole  ethical  nature,  justice  as  much  as  love,  would 
put  a  demand  on  him  to  limit  it  as  much  as  possible  by  the  em- 
plo^'ment  of  all  possible  agencies  for  its  extirpation.  The  nec- 
essary outcome  of  his  proceeding  must  be  that  he  did  all  pos- 
sible to  prevent  evil  finding  an  entrance  into  the  system,  and, 
after  it  made  its  appearance,  every  thing  possible  to  extirpate 
it,  short  of  a  method  that  would  involve  still  greater  evil  by 
eliminating  all  possible  good,  or  the  greatest  possible  good. 

It  is  in  the  light  of  these  principles  that  we  must  judge  of 
and  interpret  his  proceedings  with  man,  and  especially  the 
workings  of  the  remedial  system. 

But  some  one  is  ready  to  say  :  Had  not  God  power  to  pre- 
vent evil  from  invading  the  universe  ?  To  say  he  had  not,  is 
it  not  to  limit  his  omnipotence  ?  To  this  question  we  answer 
in  two  parts  :  (a)  He  had  the  power  to  prevent  evil  by  not  cre- 
ating a  moral  universe.  If  he  might  omit  that  there  would  be 
no  evil.  But  could  he,  as  the  infinitely  good  and  holy,  omit 
it  ?  {b)  But  could  he  not  have  made  a  moral  system  with  only 
good  in  it  ?  "We  answer.  Yes  ;  that  was  precisely  the  moral 
system  he  did  make.  There  was  no  evil  in  any  thing  that  he 
made.  But  had  he  not  power  to  prevent  it  from  being  intro- 
duced ?  To  this  we  answer  again  in  two  parts :  (a)  Power 
cannot  prevent  a  moral  creature  from  going  wrong  except  by 
de-ethicalizing  him,  that  is,  by  overthrowing  his  ethical  nature. 
Ethical  acts  are  not  preventable  by  power ;  but  (b)  if  he  could 
prevent  it  how  is  it  to  be  accounted  for  that  he  permits  it  on  any 
6 


80  PHILOSOPHY  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE. 

other  principle  than  that  he  prefers  it  on  its  own  account,  or  be- 
cause there  is  a  paramount  good  in  it?  which  is  a  contradiction. 

It  is  easy  to  folly  and  effrontery  to  say  :  Why,  if  God  is  dis- 
pleased with  sin,  did  he  not  prevent  it,  and  if  he  desires  to  get 
clear  of  it  wliy  does  he  not  banish  it  ?  But  this  is  mere  ebullition 
of  ignorance — the  cry  of  the  she  wolf. 

The  answer  to  all  such  inane  blasphemy  is  :  Sin  is  here  be- 
cause man  chooses  to  sin.  It  is  here,  not  because  God  is  pleased 
to  have  it,  but  because  men  are  pleased  to  commit  it.  He  did 
not  and  does  not  prevent  it  because  he  does  not  choose  to  abolish 
men  and  a  moral  universe,  and  because  he  has  no  power  to 
prevent  it  if  free  beings  choose  to  have  it.  His  law  and  the 
sinless  system  he  created  represent  his  feeling  with  regard  to 
it.  The  plan  of  rescue  from  it  expresses  his  desire  to  get  rid 
of  it.  If  there  were  any  other  possible,  more  effectual  way, 
it  is  certain  that  he  would  have  adopted  that. 

Sin  is  here  by  choice  of  man.  It  is  fonnd  to  be  the  most 
patent  and  the  most  potent  fact  in  human  history,  and,  we  may 
be  bold  to  say,  the  most  dreadful  fact  in  the  entire  history  of 
the  universe.  No  one  disputes  it.  Its  fell  shadow  falls  atliwart 
the  entire  history  of  the  race.  Its  malign  and  awful  presence 
reveals  itself  in  every  soul  of  man.  It  is  unmixed  evil,  and 
portentous  of  still  deeper  evil.  This  statement  accords  with 
every  consciousness.  It  carries  terror  to  every  reflecting  mind. 
It  projects  its  portentous  gloom  over  a  possible  immortality. 
Only  fools  make  light  of  it. 

To  the  question.  How  shall  it  be  dealt  with  ?  what  will  be  the 
outcome  ?  the  guilt-smitten  soul  returns  only  the  dumb  answer 
of  instinct.  The  spontaneous  first  thought  is  to  appease  aveng- 
ing wrath  which  it  feels  lowering  over  it.  All  heathenism  is  the 
exponent  of  this  thought.  All  its  rites  and  offerings  are  peace- 
offerings — appeasements.     Tlie    entire   history  of   hcatlienisra 


PHILOSOPHY  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE.  81 

proclaims  man's  consciousness  of  guilt  and  dread  of  venge- 
ance— bis  hopeless  impotence  cowering  before  tbe  terrors  of 
retributive  wrath;  the  impossibility  of  self-deliverance  but  the 
inevitability  of  the  effort.  No  offering  can  appease  avenging 
justice  while  sin  remains.  Justice  cannot  be  bought  off.  The 
thing  God  hates  is  sin.  The  blood  of  bulls  and  goats,  and 
more  costly  offerings,  is  not  what  he  wants.  They  are  nothing 
to  him.  What  is  wanted  is  salv^ation  from  sin.  That  will  stay 
all  penalty — nothing  else  can.  No  human  effort  that  comes 
short  of  this  is  of  any  avail.  The  problem  is  how  to  get  rid 
of  sin.  That  solved,  all  else  is  easy.  Sacrifices  do  not  put  it 
away.  No  sacrifice;  not  even  the  great  sacrifice  God  himself 
provided.  No  sacrifice  appeases.  What  is  wanted  is  not  ap- 
peasement ;  it  is  the  removal  of  sin.  This  can  never  be  done 
in  any  other  way  than  by  inducing  the  sinner  to  renounce  it 
In  order  to  that  he  must  be  revolutionized — made  over. 

As  any  sacrifices  he  may  offer  cannot  do  that,  so  also  he 
cannot  revolutionize  himself.  He  has  no  power  to  do  it  in 
himself.  Here  is  where  the  religion  of  culture  is  a  failure. 
Culture  cannot  remove  guilt.  Culture  cannot  change  the  nat- 
ure. These  are  the  things  that  are  wanted.  Sin  kills.  What 
is  needed  is  a  power  to  make  alive. 

Failing  to  appease  avenging  wrath  by  any  thing  it  can  do, 
and  failing  to  be  able  to  restore  itself  by  any  thing  that  it  can 
do — hopelessly  guilty,  bound  hand  and  foot  to  evil,  smitten  with 
despair — the  affrighted  soul  turns  upon  its  Maker  and  Sovereigp 
and  accuses  him  as  a  merciless  tyrant.  In  vain  does  Sover- 
eignty rcpl}^ :  Is  not  the  law  just  ?  Does  it  require  any  thing 
oppressive  ?  Is  it  not  beneficent  as  well  as  just  ?  Would  not 
obedience  to  it  have  worked  for  the  highest  welfare  ?  Does 
not  its  transgression  work  endless  harm  and  misery  ?  As  a 
loving  sovereign  was  I  not  bound  to  make  such  a  law  ?    Would 


82  PEILOSOPHY  OF  CHRISTIAN'  EXPERIENCE. 

I  have  been  guiltless  had  I  made  any  other  law  less  perfect  ? 
Can  I  be  just  or  true  to  the  creatures  I  have  made  and  permit 
it  to  be  set  aside  and  trampled  on  ?  Am  I  not  bound  to  secure 
the  good  it  provides  for  by  compelling  it  to  be  respected  by 
enforcing  its  sanctions  ?  Were  not  you  fully  warned  of  the 
consequences  of  transgression  ?  Was  not  your  disobedience  a 
free  voluntary  act  ?  Is  not  the  harm  that  comes  to  you  in  its 
penalties  of  your  own  procuring?  Can  yon  with  reason  or 
justice  complain  of  me  for  your  self-incurred  evil  by  the  per- 
verse and  willful  abuse  of  what  I  intended  for  your  good  ? 
The  defense  seems  to  be  fair.  There  is  not  one  of  the  allega- 
tions implied  against  which  a  word  can  be  said. 

But  despite  the  defense  the  affriglited  soul  feels  that,  dealt 
with  on  these  principles  of  rigorous  justice,  it  is  the  victim  of 
a  great  wrong — the  justice  is  too  severe  to  be  just,  even  ;  in  its 
unrelenting  rigors  it  overleaps  itself  and  becomes  stained — 
justice,  pure  and  simple,  unmixed  with  mercy  toward  a  finite 
and  fallable  creature,  becomes  cruelty.  The  soul  continues  its 
plea.  It  says,  allow  that  justice  condemns  M'ith  justice,  yet 
the  thing  is  wrong.  The  injustice  lies  further  back,  in  giving 
me  existence  and  placing  me  in  exposedness  to  such  a  fate.  •  It 
is  cruelty  to  create  a  fallable  creature  and  place  him  under  cir- 
cumstances where  he  ma}^  however  freely,  incur  remediless  evil 
upon  a  single  chance.  I  had  no  choice  in  my  creation.  Your 
sovereign  act  placed  me  here  in  being.  You  made  me  what  I 
am.  Had  it  been  possible  to  know  these  grievous  possibilities, 
and  had  I  been  allowed  a  choice,  I  would  have  preferred  not 
to  be.  It  was  an  act  of  pure  and  cruel  despotism  that  made 
me  under  conditions  that  have  brought  these  evils  upon  me. 
There  is  not  even  the  excuse  of  good  intention  marred  by  un- 
foreseen contingencies.  Thou  knewest  even  when  creating  me 
what  the  outcome  was  sure  to  be.     Waxing  still  more  bold,  the 


PHILOSOPHY  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE.  83 

defiant,  not  merely  affrighted  and  helpless,  soul  continues  its 
plea.  Looking  Sovereignty  in  the  face  it  says  :  I  never  had  a 
chance  ;  I  was  sent  here  maimed — a  hopeless  cripple,  with  im- 
possibility to  do  otherwise  than  sin.  The  blight  of  another's 
curse  for  his  own  sin,  not  mine,  reached  me  in  the  womb  ere  I 
was  born,  and  so  warped  my  faculties  that  escape  from  this 
curse  which  I  now  suffer  was  never  in  my  reach.  I  am  fore- 
doomed by  the  sin  of  another,  of  which  my  sins  are  unfree  ac- 
cidents however  they  seem  to  be  my  free  and  personal  acts. 

To  this  impeachment  there  is  and  can  be  no  answer  if  we 
suppose  the  divine  government  based  and  administered  on  the 
principle  of  abstract  and  absolute  justice  alone  which  renders 
penalty  irremissible  if  the  subject  is  to  be  such  a  subject  as 
man.  With  such  a  subject  there  can  be  no  irremissible  pen- 
alty for  sin.  There  may  be  penalty  eternally  inflicted  but  it 
must  be  remissible  penalty.  That  it  continues  forever  must 
not  be  because  he  who  executes  it  could  not  and  would  not  re- 
mit it,  but  because  he  who  suffers  it  has  finally  and  irreversi- 
bly rejected  the  merciful  conditions  on  which  alone  it  could  be 
remitted.  The  penalty  abides  because  the  sinner  has  irreversi- 
bly and  freely  determined  the  rejection  of  proffered  pardon, 
fixing  himself  in  sin,  and  not  because  it  is  de  facto  irremissible. 

In  recognizing  the  principle  of  mercy  and  possible  pardon, 
and  in  providing  for  it  in  actual  administration,  which  all  ad- 
mit, God  himself  shows  that  the  actual  administration  is  not  on 
the  principle  of  abstract  and  absolute  justice  alone,  and  is  not 
BO  because  it  ought  not,  that  is,  ethically  could  not,  be  so  carried 
on.  The  mercy  which  he  introduced  was  not  unethical,  but  what, 
was  obligatory  on  him  as  an  immutable  ethical  principle  of  his 
nature ;  as  much  so  as  that  of  justice  itself.  Grace  is  his  free 
act,  but  not,  therefore,  in  contravention  with  ethical  obligation. 
He  could  no  more  administer  without  mercy  than  without  j  ustice. 


84  PHILOSOPHT  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCK 

• 

Mercy  must  not  be  in  contravention  of  justice,  and  no 
more  can  justice  be  in  contravention  of  mercy.  The  two  eter- 
nal and  immutable  attributes  must  be  administratively  harmo- 
nious. The  law  in  all  of  its  requirements  and  sanctions  must 
accord  with  perfect  justice,  for  he  cannot  be  in  conflict  with 
justice.  It  must  be  administered  in  mercy,  but  not  at  the 
sacrifice  of  tlie  principle  of  justice,  for  he  cannot  be  less  than 
merciful.  This  was  the  great  problem,  the  greatest  of  all  prob- 
lems, for  the  Infinite  to  solve.  To  the  impeachment  of  igno- 
rant fright  and  terror  the  infinite  heart  of  love  replies:  "  It  is 
not  so.  The  case  is  not  at  all  as  you  put  it ;  it  is  the  extremest 
opposite.  If  my  dealing  with  you  were  as  you  assume,  though 
you  are  a  worm,  and  even  on  the  ground  that  you  are  a  worm 
and  I  the  Almighty,  your  accusation  would  be  just.  I  should 
then  deserve  the  execration  of  every  creature  in  the  universe. 
1  should  not  be  able  to  think  of  myself  but  with  abhorence.  If 
there  is  a  single  creature  in  the  wide  realm  of  existence  whom 
I  have  treated  as  you  allege  you  have  been  treated,  no  matter 
what  his  sin,  my  infamy  were  greater  than  that  of  devils.  But 
you  are  mistaken.  The  indictment  is  false  in  all  of  its  essen- 
tial and  malign  features.  This  is  what  is  true  :  I  did  permit 
vou  to  be  brought  into  existence  with  a  marred  nature  whose 
tendencies  are  to  evil.  It  is  also  true  that  it  is  by  reason  of  no 
fault  of  yours  that  you  are  so  marred.  It  is  further  true  that 
you  have  no  power  to  remedy  the  marring  of  nature  which 
comes  to  you  by  inheritance.  It  is  also  true  that  your  per- 
sonal sins  have  had  their  source  in  the  natural  depravity  which 
was  propagated  in  you  without  your  consent.  So  much  I  am 
compelled  to  admit.  If  now  the  defense  stopped  here  nothing 
is  more  certain  than  that  the  indictment  would  stand  in  every 
feature  of  it.  But  infinite  love  proceeds  with  its  defense  :  It 
is  not  true  that  I  have  ever  accounted  you  guilty,  or  that  I  have 


PHILOSOPHY  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE.  85 

ever  proposed  to  punish  you  for  the  nature  you  inherit,  or  that 
I  have  required  of  you  the  impossible  thin<^  of  rectifjdng  it  by 
your  unaided  self-power.  It  is  not  true  that  I  have  left  you 
to  the  inevitable  punishment  of  your  sins  personally  commit- 
ted by  the  free  choice  of  evil,  even.  It  is  not  true  that  I  have 
cruelly  forsaken  you  in  your  sad  and  helpless  condition  and 
left  you  to  your  self-chosen  wickedness.  What  is  true  is,  I 
have  ever  been  a  pitying  Father.  In  your  helplessness  I  have 
laid  help  upon  One  mighty  to  save  ;  I  have  borne  with  3^ou  ;  I 
have  provided  for  you  full  and  ample  opportunities  to  make 
your  existence  one  of  immeasurable  blessedness.  This  is  the 
one  thing  I  have  constantly  sought  in  all  my  dealings  with  you. 
I  have  made  infinite  sacrifice  for  you  ;  I  have  employed  all 
possible  influences  to  save  you  ;  I  have  offered  forgiveness  ou 
the  single  condition  that  you  renounce  your  sins ;  I  have  per- 
suaded and  entreated  you.  If  finally  you  are  lost  it  will  be 
after  all  efforts  to  save  you  have  been  unavailing,  and  then 
only  because  when  it  was  fully  in  your  power,  made  so  by  un- 
solicited help,  you  have  rejected  offered  mercy  and  have  of 
your  own  volition  irreversibly  elected  evil  instead  of  good.  I 
call  the  universe  to  witness  that  I  have  exhausted  the  resources 
of  infinite  love.  What  could  I  have  done  that  I  have  not 
done  ? " 

This  defense  accords  with  the  exact  facts ;  and  that  it  is 
a  perfect  defense  no  spirit  in  the  universe  can  gainsay.  Love 
intones  all  the  proceedings  of  God  with  respect  to  man  from 
the  beginning  to  the  end.  There  is  not  a  chapter  from  the 
opening  chapter  in  Eden,  not  an  incident  to  the  closing  chap- 
ter of  eternal  doom,  that  does  not  reveal  infinite  love  as  pre- 
siding: over  the  destinies  of  men. 


86  PHILOSOPHY  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE. 

LECTURE     5. 
ELEMENTS    OF    EXPERIENCE. 

The  preceding  discussions  liave  sufficiently  developed  the 
principles  and  the  facts  of  administration  under  which  Chris- 
tian experience  emerges ;  that  it  is  the  experience  of  a  soul 
under  a  beneficent  probation,  under  which  every  soul  of  man 
has  a  fair  chance  to  secure  to  itself  a  happy  immortality. 

The  discussion  first  disclosed  how  man  became  involved  in 
sin,  and  then  unfolded  the  method  by  which  infinite  love  seeks 
to  deliver  him  from  sin  by  a  continued  probation  under 
redemptive  influences  and  agencies.  It  further  developed  that 
in  the  entire  history  and  providential  plan  of  proceeding  there 
is  nothing  arbitrary,  or  artificial,  or  merely  volitional  on  the 
part  of  God,  but  that  the  whole  proceeding  has  been  and  is 
conducted  on  the  immutable  ethic  of  the  divine  nature. 

I  deem  it  important,  before  stating  the  facts  of  experience 
which  in  their  wholeness  constitute  Christian  experience,  to 
state  once  more  that  they  are  facts  which  do  not  emerge  in  the 
soul  by  its  own  agency  alone,  nor  by  the  agency  of  God  alone, 
but  by  the  concurrence  and  coaction  of  God  the  Father,  God 
the  Son,  and  God  the  Holy  Ghost — the  Trinity  in  the  Godhead 
— with  the  soul. 

I  reaffirm  also  that  God  in  Trinity  has  no  j)ower  to  recover 
the  sinful  and  guilty  soul  without  its  coaction.  This  may  seem 
like  abold  statement,  but  a  moment's  reflection,  without  argu- 
ment, will  justify  it.  If  it  M'cre  possible  to  Godhead  to  save 
the  soul  without  its  coaction,  then  all  souls  would  be  brought 
to  the  experience  of  salvation  if  it  were  not  that  God  did  not 
wish  to  save  them  ;  for  if  he  could  work  salvation  in  one 
without  his  coaction,  he  could  work  salvation   in  all  without 


PHILOSOPHY  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE.  87 

their  coaction.  The  explanation  why  some  will  not  be  saved 
is  not  that  God  did  not  choose  to  save  some,  and  did  choose  to 
save  otliers ;  but  because  some  souls  determined,  by  a  free, 
irreversible  choice,  not  to  be  saved. 

This  position  is  essential  to  the  philosophy  of  Christian 
experience,  and  is  iniportant  to  be  emphasized,  because  of  a 
long  time  vicious  theologizing,  which  ascribes  every  thing  in 
salvation — that  is,  in  Christian  experience—  to  tlie  direct  and 
sovereign  act  of  God  on  the  souls  of  a  certain  number  called 
the  elect,  or  to  an  irresistible  efficacy  in  means  employed.  In 
either  form  the  idea  is  unethical  and  false.  Nothing  done  by 
God,  either  through  or  without  the  atonement,  ever  did  or  ever 
can  save  a  responsible  human  soul  without  its  own  coaction. 

Tlie  trutli  is,  God  seeks  to  save  all  men,  and  out  of  his  infi- 
nite love,  self-moved,  lias  provided  means  and  a  method  of 
salvation,  which  include  conditions  to  be  performed  freely  by 
man  ;  and  among  these  means  are  the  atonement  (atonement  is 
only  a  means)  wrought  by  Christ,  and  a  revelation  of  that  fact 
to  man,  accompanied  with  instructions,  invitations,  and  prom- 
ises, and  with  helpful  influences  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  empower- 
ing, but  not  coercing,  man  to  comply  with  the  conditions. 
Until  the  conditions  are  complied  with  salvation  is  not  effected. 
When  man  performs  his  part  God  saves  him ;  that  is,  brings 
him  into  the  full  and  completed  experience  of  salvation.  Thus 
God  and  man  are  co-factors.  The  whole  scheme  of  salvation  is 
to  be  interpreted  in  the  light  of  this  principle,  and  it  is  fatal  to 
the  whole  scheme  of  election  and  all  the  unethical  postulates 
and  warnings  connected  therewith,  and  the  doctrine  of  atone- 
ment built  thereon. 

Before  more  specifically  naming  and  elaborating  the  several 
separate  elements  of  Christian  experience,  we  call  attention  to 
the  fact  that  there  is  an  exact  and  loo^ical  order  in  which  these 


6^  PHILOSOPHY  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE. 

elementary  parts  emerge.  The  order  is  philosophical ;  that  is, 
rational;  it  never  is  and  cannot  be  inverted.  Each  incident 
occupies  the  precise  place  it  must  occupy  to  accord  with  the 
mental  and  moral  constitution  of  the  soul,  and  each  incident 
has  a  differentiable  conditioning  ground.  The  experience  is  a 
unity  out  of  severalty,  each  incident  of  which  is  necessary  to 
the  completed  whc»le — nothing  can  be  transposed  or  omitted, 
though  the  expe/^^nce  may  be  intermitted  at  any  point  short 
of  completion — the  beginning  does  not  necessarily  carry  with 
it  the  end.  The  end  is  only  secured  by  the  soul  freely  comply- 
ing with  the  conditions  until  the  end  is  reached.  N^o  soul  ever 
did  or  ever  can  comply  with  the  conditions  throughout  and  the 
end  fail. 

ChHstlan  experience  is  absolute  proof  of  the  truth  of  Chris- 
tlaniiy.  There  is  perfect  harmony  between  the  experience 
and  the  entire  code  of  doctrines  in  the  Christian  system.  All 
the  doctrines  have  bearing  in  some  way  on  the  experience. 
The  experience  is  Christianity  incarnated — concrete  experience 
of  it. 

Whut  are  the  elements  of  Christian  experience  ?  In  the 
present  lecture  they  will  be  named  and  explained  in  the  order 
of  their  occurrence. 

We  are  now  prepared  to  take  up  and  examine  the  facts  of 
Christian  experience.  There  are  elements  in  Christian  experi- 
ence that  are  common  to  all  men,  which  therefore  exist  where 
no  completed  Christian  experience  exists,  but  without  which 
there  is  no  Christian  experience;  which,  therefore,  must  be 
taken  account  of  in  any  adequate  statement  of  the  constitutive 
elements  of  Christian  experience.  The  beginnings  of  grace 
are  revealed  in  every  adult  human  soul.     These  primary  and 


PHILOSOPHY  OF  CHRISTTAN  EXPERIENCE.  89 

initial  experiences  constitute  the  conditioning  grounds  of  all 
subsequent  experiences,  without  which  they  would  be  impossi- 
hle  ;  they  furnish  the  necessary  bases  of  all  after  stages.  They 
are  of  divine  emanation.  The  human  soul  has  no  power  to  lift 
itself  to  God,  if  God  do  not  first  condescend  to  it.  It  must 
forever  remain  in  the  sensuosity  into  which  it  is  fallen,  did  not 
God  lift  it  up  out  of  the  abysm  by  some  helpful  movement 
upon  it,  enabling  it  to  coact  with  him.  This  is  called  initial 
grace. 

Divine  illuTnination  is  the  first  element  in  any  soul's  de 
facto  redemption — its  first  redemptive  experience.  This  is 
vouchsafed  in  a  degree  to  every  human  soul.  There  is  a  divine 
"liglit  that  lighteneth  every  man  that  cometh  into  the  world," 
which  is  sufficient,  if  followed,  to  lead  it  to  its  fountain  and 
source,  so  that  there  is  no  absolute  necessity  that  any  soul  of 
man  should  be  lost.  But  the  light  which  shines  dindy  in  the 
benighted  chambers  of  a  heathen  soul,  while  it  may  lead  it  to 
the  everlasting  fountain  of  light  and  life,  is  not  adequate  to  a 
Christian  experience.  There  must  be  added  supernatural 
revelation.  The  light  which  shines  from  the  holy  pages  of 
revelation  and  from  the  holy  character  of  Jesus  of  Kazareth 
furnishes  the  divine  illumination  which  is  necessary  to  the 
dawn  of  Christian  experience.  Through  these  God  comes  to 
the  sensualized  soul,  and  by  their  shining  lights  up  the  super- 
sensuous  and  unseen,  as  nature  and  the  Spirit  in  the  use  of 
mere  nature  do  not.  In  their  shining  the  powers  of  the 
invisible  world  appear — the  soul  discerns  itself  and  its  law — the 
path  of  duty  and  of  life  is  made  plain  to  it.  The  divine  illu- 
mination thus  projected  into  the  soul  becomes  matter  of  con- 
sciousness. Under  it  all  things  appear  in  a  new  light ;  that 
which  was  before  in  a  haze  of  uncertainty  becomes  real;  faith 


90  PHILOSOPHT  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE. 

in  the  supersensible  is  born.  It  is  the  iirst  end  of  "the  path 
that  shineth  more  and  more  unto  the  perfect  day."  It  is  a 
holy  light,  and  it  reveals  the  "  holy  of  holies  " — the  hohness  of 
God,  the  holiness  of  heaven,  and  the  great  fact  that  nothing 
unholy  can  enter  therein.  The  human  soul,  under  divine 
illumination,  becomes  conscious  of  a  law  revealed  to  it  which 
demands  holiness.  The  heavenly  light  opens  npon  it  ineffable 
sanctities. 

Conviction,  the  second  stage  of  experience,  is  born.  The 
illuminated  soul,  under  the  heavenly  shining,  discovers  that  it 
is  utterly  defiled.  Patent  as  that  fact  now  becomes  to  its 
consciousness,  but  for  that  opening  to  it  of  the  holy  of  holies 
it  could  never  have  made  the  discovery.  To  a  soul  that  has 
closed  its  doors  against  the  shining  of  that  holy  light  sin  seems 
a  trivial  thing — an  accident  or  mistake  merely — a  passing 
misconduct — a  happening  that  has  no  deep  significance,  which 
comes  to  the  earthly  life  of  man  and  makes  a  momentary  stain, 
may  be,  but  which  time  and  other  experiences  will  efface  ;  but, 
to  one  who  has  seen  God  in  his  revelation,  who  has  passed 
through  into  the  inner  shrine  of  the  divine  sanctities,  that  has 
seen  the  veil  uplifted,  and  through  the  veil  has  beheld  the 
unspeakable  vision  of  stainless  and  immaculate  purities — the 
effulgence  of  a  holiness  before  which  even  the  heavens  are 
stained  and  angels  are  charged  with  folly — a  blaze  of  righteous- 
ness which  consumes  all  iniquity — sin  becomes  exceeding 
sinful,  a  very  tragedy  of  evil.  That  such  is  the  eternal  holiness 
of  God  is  the  burden  of  revelation  ;  the  express  teaching  is, 
that  he  cannot  look  upon  sin  with  allowance — that  it  is  the  one 
thing  which  his  nature  abhors  with  unmitigated  loathing. 

In  the  light  of  this  revelation  the  illuminated  soul  sees  itself, 
and  there  is  borne  in  upon  it  the  sense  of  utter  guilt  and  defile- 


PHILOSOrilY  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE.  91 

ment.  The  eternal  ethic  slays  it.  To  it  sin  is  never  again 
mere  petty  delinquencies — mere  external  follies  and  foibles — 
the  epliemeral  incidents  or  escapades  of  transient  thoughtlessness. 
The  blaze  of  day  has  peneti'ated  its  innermost  consciousness, 
and  the  holy  law  lays  itself  along-side  of  the  habitual  thoughts 
and  desires  and  purposes  which  are  found  there,  and  the  dis- 
covery is  made  to  it  that  itself  is  shot  tlirouo:h  and  through 
witli  the  deadly  virns — that  itself  is  rotten  and  leprous,  a 
filthy  cage  of  reptiles  and  unclean  birds,  that  ic  is  evil  and  oidy 
evil,  and  that  continually — that  its  very  sanctities  are  unholy 
lusts.  It  sums  up  its  whole  moral  consciousness  in  one  word : 
*'  Unclean,  unclean,  unclean."  No  soul  lias  ever  seen  itself  in 
the  light  of  revelation,  or  in  the  light  of  true  self-knowledge, 
that  will  not  recognize  the  realism  of  this  dreadful  picture. 

There  is  a  general  vague  sense  of  sin  which  all  men  feel. 
Under  redemption  no  soul  of  man  is  or  can  be  without  this.  It 
emerges  in  the  dimmest  twilight  of  ethical  consciousness.  It 
brings  to  the  soul  disquiet  and  unrest,  unsatisfiedness  with  itself, 
weariness  with  its  state,  the  dull  pain  of  a  diseased  nerve  ;  but  it 
is  often  for  a  time,  and.  possibly  on  account  of  personal  delin- 
quency forever,  kept  under  opiates  or  drowned  with  dissipations 
or  eager  pursuits  of  pleasure  or  business.  It  is  incipient  but 
smothered  conviction. 

The  grace  of  thorough  awakening,  when  admitted  to  the 
soul — that  is,  wdien  the  soul  yields  its  consent  to  look  at  itself  in 
the  light  of  the  divine  law — is  a  great  uplift  toward  spiritual  life, 
the  beginning  of  a  great  experience,  often  alarming  and  deeply 
painful  at  first,  but  always  medicative,  healing,  the  bursting  open 
of  the  door  for  the  in-comino;  of  a  celestial  sruest. 

It  is  not  pretended  that  in  every  case  of  genuine  Christian 
experience  there  is  the  same  degree  of  vivid  consciousness  of 
the  utter  corruption  of  the  heart  or  the  same  Dhenoraena  of  self- 


92  PHILOSOPHY  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE. 

accusing.  Personal  history  accounts  for  wide  diversity  ;  but  a 
sense  of  guilt  is  a  universal  concomitant  of  all  Christian  experi- 
ence. Many  times  tlie  divine  illumination  brings  out  into  start- 
ling prominence  some  one  act  of  enormous  sin  and  fixes  the 
gaze  of  the  soul  exclusively  upon  it,  and  impales,  transfixes  it 
with  the  single  fact.  Many  times  it  is  a  long  line  of  criminal 
offenses,  a  life-time  of  sins,  that  is  held  before  its  gaze.  Again, 
it  is  simple  conviction  of  neglect,  ingratitude,  unworthiness ; 
but  it  must  be  conviction  of  sin,  consciousness  of  guilt,  if  the 
soul  is  ever  to  rise  out  of  it  into  a  sense  of  pardon.  Sinfulness 
emerges  as  ground  of  condemnation. 

Now  it  is  possible  to  conceive  of  the  soul's  experience  stop- 
ping here.  There  is  no  absolute  necessity  in  the  nature  of  the 
soul  that  it  should  ever  pass  from  under  or  beyond  this  experi- 
ence. We  should  then  have  a  soul  forever  self-condemned  and 
gnawed  with  perpetual  remorse,  or  a  dead  or  a  lost  soul.  Itself 
could  never  abolish  the  fact  of  its  guilt.  The  law  which  con- 
demns it  could  never  be  reversed,  for  it  is  an  immutable  law. 
Its  condemnation  must  be  perpetual  and  its  remorse  everlast- 
ing— the  inextinguishable  fire  and  the  deathless  worm,  the  hell 
of  the  Bible.  If  we  suppose  the  process  to  stop  here,  conviction 
is  not  an  element  of  Christian  experience,  but  an  element  of  the 
experience  of  a  lost  soul  that  might  have  led  on  to  Christian 
experience.  To  raise  conviction  to  the  quality  of  an  element 
of  grace,  and  thus  bring  it  into  the  line  of  saving  experience,  it 
must  condition  a  further  experience. 

We  have  said  that  the  soul  has  no  power  to  reverse  the  facts 
and  lift  itself  out  from  under  the  condemnation  which  kills  it. 
If  now  we  suppose  God  to  be  moved  with  pity  at  its  forlorn 
condition,  and  by  as  imperative  a  law  as  the  law  of  holiness  it- 
self we  are  compelled  to  think  he  was,  and  could  not  but  be,  so 
moved  (and  this  intuitive   judgment  is  shown  to  be  true  by  his 


FHILOSOPEY  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE.  93 

own  revelation,  for  lie  declares  that  lie  was  so  moved  with  pitj), 
riie  question  emerges,  how  could  pity  become  available  to  rem- 
edy the  case  ? 

It  is  certain  that  there  are  some  thinc^s  which  God,  however 
"moved  by  pity,  could  not  do.  He  could  not  reverse  his  own  law 
without  subverting  his  own  immaculate  holiness,  for  his  law  is 
the  simple  exponent  and  expression  of  his  holiness.  He  could 
not  change  the  fact  of  sin.  It  is  not  in  the  power  of  God  even 
to  make  tiiat  not  a  fact  which  is  a  fact.  He  could  not  ignore  the 
fact  and  treat  the  guilty  sinner  as  if  he  were  not  a  sinner ;  for 
that  would  require  him  to  subvert  the  ethic  of  his  own  nature 
by  making  no  distinction  between  righteousness  and  unright- 
eousness. He  could  not  force  a  reversal  of  character  in  the  sin- 
ner himself;  for  that  would  be  to  reduce  the  sinner  from  a  per- 
son to  a  thing,  and  so  to  violate  the  law  of  his  personality. 
These  are  things  wliicli  we  know  could  not  be.  And  yet  we 
know  just  as  certainly  as  we  know  any  one  of  these  facts  that 
mercy  is  one  of  the  eternal  attributes  of  his  nature,  precisely 
as  we  know  that  justice  is. 

The  law  convicts  of  sin,  and  still  sets  forth  its  unabated  com- 
mand— relaxes  nothing.  Tliere  is  no  salvation  by  the  law.  But 
so  there  is  no  salvation  without  it.  It  must  do  its  work.  It 
must  convince  of  sin,  whether  the  sinner  be  saved  or  not.  If 
punished,  it  must  be  with  the  knowledge  and  consciousness  of 
sin.  If  saved,  it  must  also  be  after  the  knowledge  and  deep 
consciousness  of  sin.  Without  this  consciousness  it  is  impossible 
that  it  should  be  brought  forward  into  other  experiences  which 
are  necessary  to  the  experience  of  pardon. 

That  the  process  do  not  stop  here  it  is  requisite  there  should 
be  further  illumination  b\^  a  further  revelation.  The  law  is  not 
sufficient.  Up  to  this  stage  the  soul  stands  before  the  external 
and  internal  Sinai — the  eternal  law  and  inexorable  justice.    The 


94  PHILOSOPHY  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE. 

revelation  transfixes  with  terror — slays  it.  There  is  nothing  else 
that  it  can  do.  No  sound  of  mercy  intones  condemning  law.  Its 
only  sentence  is  :  "The  soul  that  sinneth,  it  shall  die.''  It  pro- 
vides for  no  pardons.  It  inspires  no  liope.  It  relentlessly 
kills.  The  glare  of  its  awful  light  smites  with  despair  and  deatli. 
The  eternal  ethic  of  the  divine  nature  requires  that  it  should 
be  so. 

But,  then,  is  there  no  salvation  ?  None  by  the  way  of  Sinai. 
The  law  cannot  save.  Nor  can  there  be  salvation  by  the  over- 
throw of  the  law.  Nor  can  there  be  salvation  inconsistent  with 
law.  We  may  venture  to  say  the  problem  is  too  deep  for  us. 
Humanity  can  neither  save  itself,  nor  see  any  way  in  which  God 
himself  can  save  the  guilty. 

Calvary  furnishes  the  only  solution.  The  probation  under 
law  is  not  final.  The  case  is  transferred  from  the  law  to  the 
Gospel.  Probation  is  carried  over  from  the  region  of  law  to  the 
provisions  of  grace.  It  is  God  who  changed  tlie  venue  and  or- 
dered the  trial  to  proceed  under  new  conditions.  It  is  thus 
that  salvation  is  of  God. 

I  do  not  here  enter  the  polemic  as  to  how  God  could  adjourn 
the  case  from  strict  justice  or  mere  law  to  the  court  of  mercy. 
It  is  sufficient  that  ho  did  so  do.  That  fact  proves  that  it  was 
in  harmony  with  the  eternal  ethic  of  his  nature  to  do  it. 

I  re-affirm  that  it  was  a  Ticcessity  to  his  nature  to  do  so  in  his 
administration  over  a  race  and  over  the  individuals  of  a  race 
constituted  as  our  race  is.  He  could  no  more  be  an  infinitely 
holy  God  without  the  mercy  which  provides  a  possible  pardon 
to  sin  in  a  case  such  as  man's,  than  he  could  if  the  princi]ile  of 
justice  were  left  out  of  his  administration.  God's  throne  could 
not  stand  unimpeached  under  the  single  aspect  of  abstract  and 
inexorable  justice  as  the  dominating  principle  of  administration. 
I  venture  to  go  yet  further,  and  to  affirm  that  there  is  no  such 


PHILOSOPEY  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE.  95 

attribute  in  God  as  abstract  justice  unintoned  witb  mercy.  lie 
is  always  just;  never  less  tluin  just;  but  he  is  also  always  merci- 
ful. It  is  a  neces!^ity  to  the  peace  of  the  universe  that  his  throne 
t;hould  be  clothed  with  the  milder  attribute  of  compassion  in 
any  degree  that  will  be  consistent  with  the  general  welfare  of 
the  system.  Mere  justice  is  the  last  resort  of  administration 
after  mercy  has  exhausted  all  its  resources.  The  final  act  of 
justice  in  awarding  punisliment  can  never  be  reached  without 
previous  efforts  of  mercy  to  avert  the  necessity  ;  so  that  justice 
does  not  stand  alone  in  the  administration. 

Tlie  seemingly  contradictory  ideas  of  rigorous  justice  and 
placable  mercy  are  the  immutable  foundation  of  the  etliical  system. 
They  are  twin  and  mutually  modifying  attributes  of  the  divine 
nature,  never  separated  and,  neither,  never  alone  in  administra- 
tion. Together  they  constitute  the  holiness  of  the  divine  law 
<tnd  the  eternal  holiness  of  the  divine  nature  as  that  luxture  is 
expressible  in  administration  over  finite  beings.  If  it  is  possi- 
ble to  conceive  of  abstract  justice  as  an  element  of  the  divine 
nature,  it  must  be  apart  from  administration.  When  the  Infinite 
passes  out  of  himself  into  relations  with  the  finite,  the  eternal 
ethic  of  his  own  nature  requires  that  his  dealings  witli  them 
should  be  mercifully  tempered  to  their  condition. 

•  Invitation  or  vocation. — Following  conviction  and  the  de- 
spair wdiich  it  awakens  is  the  experience  of  a  drawing  of  the 
spirit  to  God — a  persuasion  or  invitation. 

In  the  writings  of  the  older  and  some  of  tlie  recent  Calvin- 
istic  tlieologians  much  is  made  of  what  they  styled  "vocation." 
It  was  placed  as  the  initial  experience  of  grace.  The  theory  of 
election  gave  it  its  place  and  significance  in  the  system.  That 
theory,  the  supralapsarian  form,  was  that  antecedently  to  crea- 
tion itself,  indeed  from  eternity,  God  elected  a  certain  definite 


96  PHILOSOPHY  OF  CHRISJIAN  EXPERIENCE. 

number  of  souls  yet  to  be  created  unto  everlasting  life — which 
number,  and  the  particular  souls  included  in  it,  was  so  fixed  that 
it  could  neither  be  increased  nor  diminished — without  any 
thought  of  any  thing  in  them  ;  and  to  secure  the  benefit  of  this 
sovereign  and  purely  arbitrary  election  to  them  he  gave  his  Son 
to  make  atonement  for  them  and  for  them  only,  and  his  Holy 
Spirit  to  apply  the  saving  benefits  of  the  atonement  to  tliem  in 
such  manner  that  it  should  forever  be  impossible  that  any  one 
of  them  should  fail  of  salvation.  Infralapsarians  mads  the 
decree  of  election  follow  the  lapse. 

Yocation  was  declared  to  be  the  irresistible  (sometimes  modi- 
fied in  the  use  of  other  terms,  as  efficacious,  effectual  calling) 
grace  whereby  the  Spirit  caused  elect  souls  to  be  willing  to 
embrace  proffered  salvation.  It  was  held  that  others  were 
called  ;  that  is,  invited  ;  but  the  effectual  call  M'as  only  extended 
to  the  elect,  and  without  the  effectual  call  none  could  accept, 
but  might  reject,  and  be  held  guilty  of  the  sin  of  rejection. 

The  doctrine  of  vocation  as  thus  taught  has  no  place  in  the 
word  of  God,  and  nothing  analogous  to  it  in  Christian  experi- 
ence.    The  idea  on  which  it  rests  is  a  defamation  of  God. 

The  only  thing  approaching  it  is  the  universal  call  of  the 
Holy  Spirit,  which  accompanies  illumination  and  conviction,  to 
all  men  to  repent  and  turn  to  God.  There  is  no  foundation 
for  the  odious  doctrine  of  a  special  effectual  vocation  to  one 
and  common  vocation  to  another — the  former  addressed  to  elect 
souls  and  the  latter  to  the  non-elect. 

It  does  accord  with  common  experience  that  God  calls  upon 
all  men  everj'-wdiere  to  repent,  and  by  consequence  that  all  men 
may  respond — that  is,  that  sufficient  grace  is  extended  to  all  to 
enable  them  to  respond — to  the  invitation.  To  the  illuminated 
and  awakened  soul  the  invitation  is  entreating  and  persuasive, 
— a  divine  drawing  not  because  they  are  elect,  but  because  they 


PHILOSOPEY  OF  CHRISTIAN-  EXPERIENCE.  97 

give  heed.  God  never  violates  the  eternal  ethic  of  the  spiritual 
M'orld  which  applies  to  all  spirits  equally — that  is,  the  law  which 
forever  treats  them  as  free  responsible  persons,  before  whom  he 
sets  life  and  death,  always  and  without  discrimination  offering 
life  and  making  its  attainment  possible  on.  the  same  terms  and 
persuading  them  thereto.  Any  vocation  that  exists  is  a  common, 
impartial,  and  universal  vocation — never  irresistible,  always 
sincere. 

The  invitations  are  accompanied  with  the  revelation  of 
Christ  as  an  atoning  Saviour.  The  soul  made  conscious  of  the 
divine  invitation,  and  having  revealed  to  it  that  Christ  is  its 
Saviour  and  friend,  through  whom  mercy  may  be  obtained, 
and  especially  being  informed  of  the  sacrifice  he  made  of  him- 
self for  it,  has  begotten  in  it  hope. 

The  fourth  stage  of  experience  is  reached :  penitence  is  he- 
gotten  ill  the  soul.  The  order  cannot  be  reversed.  There 
must  be  first  illumination  in  order  to  conviction  ;  further  il- 
lumination in  order  to  invitation,  and  invitation  in  order  to 
hope,  and  hope  in  order  to  penitence. 

If  force  were  possible  on  ethical  grounds  there  is  every  rea- 
son to  believe  it  would  be  employed  not  in  a  few  but  in  every 
case.  It  is  excluded  in  an  ethical  system.  Along  with  the  in- 
vitation comes  the  further  illumination  that  God  will  forgive. 
Christ  is  introduced  as  a  Saviour. 

As  in  order  to  conviction  the  soul  must  be  brought  face  to 
face  with  broken  law,  so  in  order  to  hope  of  pardon,  whicli  is 
the  dawn  of  repentance,  it  must  be  brought  face  to  face  with 
the  Gospel — the  invitations,  promises,  and  mighty  persuasions 
of  love. 

The  repentance  which  ensues  upon  invitation  and  the  open- 
ing to  the  soul  of  the  door  of  a  possible  pardon  is  a  well-de- 


98  PHILOSOrHY  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCK 

fined  experience,  and  its  source  is  also  well  defined  and  its  rela- 
tion to  precedent  states  natural  and  logical.  It  is  impossible 
that  it  should  exist  without  that  whicli  sroes  before. 

We  liave  said  that  it  is  a  well-defined  experience.  It  is 
proper  that  we  should  note  what  it  is.  The  etymology  of  the 
term  scarcely  defines  it.  It  docs  indeed  imply  or  involve  a  ret- 
rospective thinking — a  rethinking.  In  it  the  mind  is  carried 
back  to  the  contemplation  of  its  sin,  and  the  thought  of  its  sin 
is  a  second  better  thono^ht :  but  it  is  more  a  feelino;  than  a 
thouojht — a  feeling  becrotten  of  a  thono^ht. 

The  first  and  natural  effect  of  conviction,  which  is  the  state 
which  immediately  precedes  repentance  and  which  conditions 
it,  is  simple  remorse  and  despair.  These  spring  fron;i  the  view 
the  soul  has  of  itself  under  law.  They  are  the  only  feelings 
the  soul  can  have  under  law. 

Remorse  and  despair  are  not  elements  of  repentance.  In 
order  to  repentance  the  soul  must  be  freed  from  these.  While 
they  possess  it  it  is  impossible  any  other  emotion  should  enter; 
they  paralyze  every  other  feeling  ;  their  domination  is  deatli. 
Nor  is  repentance  a  mere  barren  regret  \vhich  occupies  itself 
merely,  or  even  chiefly,  with  apprehended  penal  consequences 
of  sin,  or  even  the  disgrace  of  sin.  In  this  feeling,  of  mere  re- 
gret as  in  despair  and  remorse,  the  soul  is  concerned  only 
about  itself.  It  is  purely  selfish;  it  has  in  it  nothing  redeem- 
ing or  restorative  ;  it  is  a  sorrow  that  worketh  death.  All  such 
states  spring  from  the  law  which  kills.  They  are  of  the  essence 
of  ultimate  death  of  the  soul — the  gnawing  of  the  worm  that 
dieth  not.  In  order  to  salvation  the  soul  must  be  lifted  out  of 
them  and  delivered  from  them. 

The  first  tendency  under  deep  awakening  of  the  soul  to  the 
sense  of  sin  is  to  these  states,  and  they  would  inevitably  be- 
come fixed  states  did  not  the  Holy  Spirit  through  the  Gospel 


PHILOSOPHY  OF  CHBISTIAN  EXPERIENCE.  99 

turn  tlie  gaze  of  the  awakened  and  alarmed  soul  away  from  it- 
self to  its  Saviour.  The  law  having  pei-formed  its  function, 
the  Gospel  must  come  with  its  healing  balm.  Calvary  must 
take  the  place  of  Sinai ;  remorse  nmst  give  way  to  contrition. 
It  is  the  broken  heart  that  pleads  for  forgiveness.  Kepentance 
is  the  triumph  of  love.  JSTo  sinful  soul  ever  was  or  ever  can  be 
saved  until  it  has  a  vision  of  love  upon  the  throne  of  the  uni- 
verse. It  is  love  that  breaks  the  stony  heart;  it  is  love  that 
unseals  the  fountain  of  penitential  tears ;  it  is  love  that  inspires 
the  cry  for  forgiveness. 

Repentance  thus  inspired  by  the  revelation  of  love  embraces 
these  elements.  It  is  a  composite  grace,  the  recognition  of 
God  as  a  loving,  long-suifering,  patient,  and  forgiving  Father ; 
it  sees  him  in  Christ  on  the  cross  for  its  redemption;  it  beholds 
him  with  extended  arms  calling  to  it,  the  father  waiting  the 
return  of  the  prodigal  child  ;  it  says,  "  I  will  arise  and  go  to  my 
father ; "  it  says,  I  have  nothing  but  sin ;  it  feels  its  poverty  and 
shame,  its  filthy  i-ags  and  disgrace ;  it  renounces  all  the  past 
and  turns  its  back  upon  it ;  it  detests  and  hates  its  sin.  'Not 
daring  to  look  up  it  wails  its  piteous  lament,  rushes  into  the 
fathers  arms,  and  sobs  upon  his  bosom:  "Father,  I  am  no 
more  worthy  to  be  called  thy  son :  make  me  as  one  of  thy 
hired  servants."  This  is  repentance.  No  other  feeling  is  gen- 
uine repentance. 

The  next  point  we  make  is  that  repentance  is  not  an  ulti- 
mate end  as  an  experience-  It  conditions  a  further  experience. 
If  it  were  possible  to  conceive  the  experience  to  stop  with  it,  it 
would  be  to  no  purpose.  Appropriate  as  it  manifestly  is  it 
would  not  be  satisfactory  as  a  fixed  state.  It  is  impossible  to 
the  mental  or  ethical  nature  to  find  content  in  it  as  an  end. 
We  arc  under  the  necessity  of  viewing  it  as  means  to  an  end. 


100  PHILOSOPHY  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE. 

The  end  for  which  it  exists  is  forgiveness.  The  whole  move- 
ment of  the  consecutive  and  correhited  experiences  from  the 
start  is  to  that  end.  Does  it  reach  the  end?  No.  Can  the 
end  be  reached  without  it  ?  No.  Does  it  go  toward  tlie  end  ? 
Yes.  No  soul  smitten  with  sin  can  be  forgiven  without  re- 
pentance. We  pause  at  this  point  for  a  moment.  The  fact 
which  we  assert  here  with  sucli  positiveness,  that  a  soul  cannot 
be  forgiven  without  repentance,  is  fundamental.  It  is  not  sim- 
ply because  God  has  made  repentance  a  condition  of  forgive- 
ness that  forgiveness  cannot  take  place  without  it.  We  do 
not  say  that  a  volitional  condition  might  not  be  made  the 
ground  of  pardon,  but  we  do  say  that  this  is  not  one  of  that 
kind.     There  is  an  irreversible  ethical  reason  Avhy  it  is  so. 

This  will  aj^pear  if  we  consider  what  forgiveness  means. 
The  experience  of  forgiveness  is  not  the  next  sequent  upon  re- 
pentance, and  it  will  be  stated  in  its  proper  place;  but  we 
briefly  refer  to  it  here.  Forgiveness  means  restoration  to  favor. 
To  suppose  that  it  could  take  place  without  repentance  would 
imply  that  an  impenitent  sinner — that  is,  a  sinner  in  whose  heart 
there  is  still  the  love  and  practice  of  sin — could  be  regarded 
with  favor.  The  idea  subverts  the  essential  principle  of  eth- 
ics. Repentance  is  therefore  a  necessary  antecedent  to  for- 
giveness. 

But,  then,  has  atonement  in  Christ  no  relation  to  pardon  ? 
We  answer.  Yes  ;  it  has  every  thing  to  do  with  it,  so  much  so 
that  there  is  no  pardon  without  atonement.  The  atonement 
conditions  all  experience  of  salvation.  Infants  even  are  not 
saved  without  atonement.  The  heathen  who  never  heard  of 
Christ,  nevertheless  if  saved  at  all,  and  we  cannot  doubt  that 
many  of  them  are  saved  and  all  might  be,  their  salvation  is 
conditioned  by  the  atonement.  The  atonement  conditions  di- 
vine forgiveness  in  every  case.     Without  atonement  in  Christ 


rniLO SOPHY  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXrERIENCE  101 

tliere  is  no  salvation  ;  but  the  atonement  does  not  alone  save. 
It  provides  a  possible  salvation,  and  under  the  Christian  law 
the  salvation  which  is  made  possible  by  atonement  is  condi- 
tioned on  "  repentance  toward  God  and  faith  in  Jesus  Christ." 
Tliere  is  no  forgiveness  under  the  Christian  dispensation  prom- 
ised on  any  other  ground. 

Repentance  itself  is  offspring  of  atonement.  Atonement 
does  not  save  without  repentance,  but  it  furnishes  the  condi- 
tions of  repentance  to  the  transgressor,  and  it  furnishes  the 
conditions  of  pardon  on  the  part  of  the  sovereign,  and  atone- 
ment arises  self-moved  in  the  divine  heart.  It  is  outbirth  of 
God's  love  :  "  God  so  loved,"  etc.  In  order  to  properly  under- 
stand the  fact  and  significance  of  repentance,  the  relation  of 
atonenient  to  Christian  experience  and  to  salvation  needs  to  be 
more  fully  explained.  To  attempt  to  explain  the  philosophy 
of  Christian  experience  and  salvation  without  the  atonement  is 
the  same  absurdity  as  to  explain  them  without  Christ.  Not  a 
single  element  of  experience  can  be  explained  without  Christ 
and  without  atonement  in  Christ. 

The  polemic  touching  the  relation  of  atonement  to  jjardon  we 
cannot  enter  here  at  length  or  in  further  detail. 

Let  us  keep  constantly  in  mind  that  we  are  not  simply  aiming 
to  give  a  true  statement  of  the  facts  of  Christian  experience,  but 
also  a  pliilosopliy  of  it ;  that  is,  an  explanation  of  the  sources  or 
conditioning  grounds  of  the  facts  and  their  significance  to  an 
end — their  coherence  and  unity. 

"\Ve  have  found  what  repentance  is,  and.  we  have  fourid  how 
it  becomes  an  experience  of  the  soul.  We  have  seen  that  it  is 
an  incident  in  a  line  of  incidents,  which  is  in  order  to  ultimate 
salvation  ;  that  is,  the  restoration  of  the  soul  to  the  forfeited 
favor  of  God  and  the  enjoyment  of  his  forgiving  love.  Is  it 
not  manifest  that  as  an  experience  it  occupies  its  precise  and 


102  rillLO SOPHY  OF  CIIL'ISTUy  EATEL'/EXCE. 

only  possible  place  in  the  line  of  incidents?  Could  it  clianp^e 
])lace  with  any  preceding  experience?  Is  it  not  conditioned 
upon  antecedent  sin  and  conviction  of  sin  under  law?  Is  it 
not  conditioned  further  on  illumination  or  revelation  of  the 
Gospel  ?  Is  it  not  precisely  the  experience  wdiich  logically 
and  ethically  should  follow  these  antecedent  and  conditioning 
experiences  ?  Could  the  ultimate  outcome  ever  be  reached 
without  it  ? 

We  now  make  the  point  that,  while  repentance  is  absolutely 
necessary  to  pardon,  it  is  not  the  last  necessity  precedent.  Were 
the  experience  to  stop  here  pardon  conld  not  become  nn  accom- 
plished fact.  It  is  difficult  to  conceive  how  a  rcnlly  penitent 
soul  should  not  be  forgiven.  I  venture  the  position  that  such 
a  case  does  not  exist ;  nevertheless,  another  act  intervenes  be- 
tween penitence  and  pardon  as  final  condition.  That  act  is 
the  act  of  faith. 

It,  after  all,  is  the  essential  act.  "  Salvation  is  by  faith."  All 
that  precedes  faith  is  conditioning  to  it,  as  it  is  conditioning  to 
salvation.  Take  away  what  goes  before,  faith  becomes  impossi- 
ble.    Leave  out  faith,  salvation  becomes  impossible. 

Repentance  brings  us  to  the  point  in  the  line  of  spiritual 
movement  where  faith  becomes  the  natural  and  logical  next.  Uj) 
to  this  point  we  have  these  facts  :  the  sinner  slain  by  the  law ; 
the  sinner  under  the  illumination  of  the  Gospel  brought  to  re- 
pentance and  supplicating  for  merc^^  He  has  as  yet  received 
no  assurance  of  pardon  ;  in  fact,  he  is  not  pardoned — the  burden 
of  the  sense  of  guilt  is  still  upon  him. 

Is  there  any  thing  more  that  he  can  do — anything  else  that  ho 
is  required  to  do  ?  If  so,  M'liat  is  that  next  logical  sequent  ?  He 
has  been  moved  by  manifestations  of  love,  and  by  invitations 
and  promises,  to  repent  and  sue  for  pardon.     Now,  liow  can 


rriFLOSOPUY  of  christian  experience.  103 

pardon  become  a  realized  fact  in  his  consciousness  ?  Manifestly 
it  is  impossible  without  a  further  act  on  his  part.  He  must 
have  faith — he  must  implicitly  trust  the  promises.  Faith  is 
the  hand  by  which  he  received  the  pardon.  It  cannot  be  bo- 
stowed,  that  is,  it  cannot  reach  him,  without  faith.  Not  only 
can  he  not  be  conscious  of  pardon  without  faith,  but  the  fact 
of  pardon  cannot  take  place  in  the  divine  mind  without  faith  in 
the  recipient.  Non-faith  leaves  the  soul  still  in  an  attitude  of 
unreconciliation — it  is  of  the  nature  of  sin. 

You  will  observe  that  not  only  does  faith  become  a  necessity 
in  order  to  the  next  fact  which  emerges  in  the  moral  movement, 
that  is,  pardon — the  end  for  which  the  whole  process  exists — 
but  it  occupies  the  precise  place  it  must  occupy  in  the  move- 
ment. It  could  not  possibly  exist  antecedently  to  repentance. 
It  is  impossible  that  an  impenitent  soul  should,  have  faith.  It 
must  first  repent  before  it  can  trust  God  for  pardon.  To  trust 
him  for  pardon  while  it  is  in  a  state  of  impenitence  is  to 
blaspheme  his  holiness.  Faith  must  respect  immutable,  ethical 
principles  and  conditions.  When  the  soul  is  repentant  faith  is 
made  possible  to  it,  and  therefore  required  of  it  on  the  two 
grounds  of  promise,  and  the  intuition  that  penitence,  if  alone 
it  does  not  furnish  a  condition  which  ethically  demands  pardon, 
does  furnish  a  condition  which  seems  to  make  pardon  possi- 
ble and  proper.  Given  the  atonement  and  attendant  invita- 
tions and  promises,  together  with  the  helpful  influence  of  the 
Holy  Spirit,  and  the  intuition  of  an  ethical  propriety  to  sup- 
port the  mind,  it  makes  the  demand  for  faith  not  oppressive, 
but  both  reasonable  and  ethical — it  ought  to  be. 

Let  us  now  inquire  more  critically,  what  is  faith  ?  "We  shall 
find  in  the  analysis  why  it  is  that  faith  occupies  so  conspicuous 
a  place  in  the  scheme  of  salvation. 


104  PHILOSOPHY  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE. 

What  is  faith?  We  note,  first,  in  answer  to  the  question, 
What  is  faith  ?  that  faitli  is  a  free  act  of  the  soul  by  the  soul.  The 
Calvinisticfundanientum — for  it  is  that  to  the  system,  that  God 
creates  faith  in  tlie  soul,  except  in  a  modified  sense — is  false  in 
fact ;  and  in  view  of  the  place  which  it  liolds  in  the  scheme  of 
salvation  it  is  unethical.  Faith  is  a  complex  mental,  emotional, 
and  volitional  act ;  the  proper  conditions  of  which  are  furnished 
to  the  soul,  but  it  is  the  proper  act  of  the  soul  itself.  If  salvation 
is  by  faith,  and  if  faith  were  created  in  the  soul  by  a  sovereign  act 
of  God,  we  have  as  the  inevitable  outcome  that  salvation  is  a 
necessitated  result ;  and  along  with  it  all  the  unethical  inclusions 
of  that  fact.  To  make  faith  a  condition  of  salvation,  and  then 
make  God  the  author  of  faith,  is  to  transfer  the  conditions  from 
the  subject  soul  and  make  God  condition  a  result  of  his  own  act 
upon  his  own  performance.  Faith,  while  a  free  act,  is  an  act 
which  is  under  mental  law,  not  a  capricious  act.  There  are 
conditions  under  which  alone  it  can  take  place.  The  soul  has  no 
power  to  exercise  faith  unless  the  conditions  of  the  faith  act 
exist.  An  impenitent  soul  cannot  exercise  faith.  To  suppose 
that  he  can  is  to  suppose  the  soul  capable  of  believing  that  God 
can  and  will  forgive  sin  while  sin  is  nimpant  in  the  soul ;  and  it 
is  more  than  that :  it  is  to  suppose  the  soul  able  to  commit  itself 
to  God  trustingly  while  it  is  raging  against  him  ;  it  is  a  con- 
tradiction. Thus  faith  as  a  condition  of  salvation  involves  also 
penitence  as  a  condition  of  salvation,  and  all  the  antecedents  of 
penitence  which  condition  it.  This  we  emphasize  as  an  im- 
portant statement.  It  is  sometimes  said,  salvation  is  by  faith 
alone — naked  faith.  If  it  means  that  salvation  is  not  without 
faith,  or  that  salvation  always  ensues  upon  faith  as  final  condi- 
tion, the  statement  is  correct;  but  if  it  means  that  the  final  faith 
act  may  stand  alone  and  apart  from  precedent  states  and 
acts,  so  that  salvation  can  be  without  them,  it  is  not  a  correct 


PHILOSOPHY  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE.  105 

statement ;  and  it  is  ethically  vicious,  and  dangerously  mis- 
leading. Faith  is  placed  as  the  condition  of  salvation  as 
including  all  conditioning  antecedents — atonement  in  Christ, 
conviction  of  sin,  repentance,  confession,  and  supplication. 
These  concomitants,  unitedly  and  never  separately,  furnish 
the  ethics  of  pardon ;  that  is,  the  ethical  ground  on  which  pardon 
can  be  and  is  issued. 

We  return  to  the  inquiry,  what  is  faith  ?  We  have  said  it  is 
a  composite  intellectual,  emotional,  and  volitional  act ;  that  is, 
it  is  an  act  in  which  the  entire  soul — ^intellect,  sensibilities  and 
will — is  exercised  ;  in  which  the  entire  soul  surrenders  itself  to 
God  as  Lord  and  Sovereign,  as  well  as  Saviour.  It  is  thus  not 
an  ephemeral  or  superficial  phase  of  feeling,  or  thought,  or 
belief  merely ;  but  a  radical  and  fundamental  act  which  de- 
termines the  character  and  future  course  of  the  soul's  life — an 
act  in  which  the  soul  accepts  pardon  on  God's  terms. 

If  we  analyze  this  act  we  shall  find  that  it  includes  these  ele- 
ments— helief,  trust,  commitment.  The  intellectual  element  is 
fiy'st  in  order,  and  conditioning  to  the  others.  Faith  begins  with 
belief  ;  hut  does  not  end  with  it.  It  is  not  mere  belief.  The 
terms  are  sometimes  used  interchangeably.  As  a  philosophic 
technic,  they  are  identical.  As  a  Christian  technic,  belief  is  only 
an  element  of  faith,  but  an  essential  element.  The  belief  ele- 
ment in  faith,  most  comprehensively,  is  belief  in  the  merciful- 
ness of  God  and  his  willingness  to  forgive  sin.  Without  this 
there  can  be  no  movement  of  the  soul  toward  God.  This  form  of 
faith  may,  under  the  enlightening  influence  of  the  Holy  Ghost, 
arise  in  a  heathen  soul,  and  under  the  same  helpful  influence  may 
issue  in  salvation.  But  the  belief  element  in  Christian  faith  is 
more  than  this :  it  is  belief  in  the  mercifulness  of  God,  and  liis 


106  niTLOSOPHY  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE. 

willingness  to  forgive  sin,  and  in  Jesus  Christ  liis  only  begotten 
Son  as  revealed  in  the  Holy  Scriptures.  With  this  essence  of 
truth  in  the  belief  there  may  coalesce  more  or  less  of  error  in  all 
minds  without  so  vitiating  tlie  belief  as  to  destroy  its  essential 
value.  One  believes  in  the  High-Trinitarian  doctrine,  another 
is  tinctured  with  Sabellianism,  another  with  Arianism,  or  seini- 
Arianisni,  or  Unitarianism;  one  interprets  according  to  Calvinism, 
anotlier  is  Arminian.  Tliese  are  severally  phases  of  intellectual 
and  fallible  interpretation ;  perhaps,  or  possibly — certainly 
none  of  them  absolutely  accurate  ;  some  of  them  mere  logom- 
achy—dispute about  words.  There  may  be  in  minds  holding 
any  of  them  a  sufficient  essence  of  faith  to  make  it  saving. 
Absolute  orthodoxy  can  scarcely  be  made  a  coiidition  of  salva- 
tion. There  is  an  essence  of  faith  which  may  be  enveloped  in 
some  error.  This  must  be  allowed,  or  among  fallible  beings 
the  way  of  salvation,  narrow  enough,  would  be  made  perilously 
strait.  While  it  may  be  perfectly  clear  that  certain  beliefs  are 
of  that  essence,  and  that  certain  other  beliefs  exclude  it,  it  is  not 
for  us  to  decide  precisely  what  in  all  cases  the  exact  form  of  be- 
lief must  be.  It  is  neither  wise  nor  safe  for  one  class  of  minds 
to  attempt  to  impose  its  precise  forms  of  thought  upon  all 
othess ;  or  to  make  its  precise  formulas  the  standard  by  which 
eternal  destinies  are  to  be  determined.  It  is  sufficient  to  say 
that  the  belief  element  in  faith  is  belief  in  the  mercifulness  of 
God  and  his  willingness  to  forgive  sin  ;  and  beleif  in  Jesus 
Christ  as  the  Redeemer  and  Saviour  of  men.  This  element 
cannot  be  excluded  from  the  faith  which  saves. 

But  no  form  of  belief  is  saving  faith.  "  The  devils  believe." 
Possibly  among  the  devils  we  should  find  sounder  orthodoxy 
as  to  matters  of  belief  than  among  the  most  astute  theologians. 
Who  knows !  The  belief  may  be  the  most  accurate  possible, 
and  yet  the  faith  which  saves  be  wanting.     The  belief  element 


PHILOSOPHY  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE.  107 

is  an  act  of  tlie  mind,  simply  as  mind  determining^  what  to  it 
seems  to  be  trne.  There  is  notliing  ethical  in  it  simply  as  be- 
lief. Belief  acquires  all  of  its  importance  as  conditioning  an 
ethical  act — an  act  of  the  affection  and  will  ;  and  so  affecting 
character  and  conduct.  If  it  stop  short  at  mere  belief,  it  is  not 
of  the  slightest  ethical  value. 

We  have  said  that  faith  is  conditioned  by  repentance,  and 
that  faith  to  tlie  impenitent  is  impossible.  It  is  important  to  ex- 
act accuracy  that  we  now  say  that  the  belief — element  of  faith  in 
some  degree  antedates  repentance  and  conditions  it.  Without 
belief  in  God  and  the  immutable  ethic  of  his  law  there  could  be 
noconviction  of  sin  ;  and  without  belief  in  his  mercifulness  there 
could  be  no  repentance.  Thus  faith,  in  the  single  aspect  of  belief, 
emerges  in  the  whole  process  from  the  beginning  to  the  end  of 
Christian  experience.  It  is  in  its  final  ethical  form,  as  an  act  of 
the  affection  and  the  will,  "  called  faith  of  the  heart,"  that  it 
is  conditioned  by  repentance,  and  is  made  the  condition  of 
salvation. 

We  come  now  to  consider  what  that  final  ethical  form  of 
faith  is  which  is  unto  salvation.  It  is  most  generally  called 
"  heart  trust."  That  phrase  hardly  adequately  expresses  it.  It 
leaves  out,  or  at  least  leaves  in  too  great  obscurity,  the  will  ele- 
ment. In  matters  of  mere  belief  neither  the  affections  nor  the 
will  have  any  prominent  place,  if  they  have  any  place  at  all. 
The  intellect  merely  is  active.  It  is  for  this  reason  that  the  eth- 
ical element  is  absent.  Mere  belief  is  never  matter  of  command, 
and  never  a  ground  of  moral  approbation  as  partaking  of  the 
nature  of  a  virtue  or  grace.  But  in  the  final  form  of  faith  both 
the  affections  and  the  will  are  active.  The  soul  profoundly 
moved  in  its  sensibilities,  moved  and  attracted  by  the  love  of  God, 
moved  with  an  affection  such  as  a  sinning  child  feels  toward  a 
grieved  father,  moved  with  contrition,  deeply  feeling  its  own 


108  PIIILO SOPHY  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE. 

grievous  wrong  and  desiring  forgiveness,  sues  for  pardon.  Upon 
the  basis  of  these  emotive  states  there  arises  trust.  The  faith  act  is 
completed  by  the  soul,  thus  moved  to  trust,  volitionally  commit- 
ting itself  to  God.  It  is  an  act  of  choice  and  free,  and  an  utter 
self-determination  to  righteousness,  in  which  the  soul  gives  it- 
self to  God,  and  trusts  him  for  forgiveness,  and  goes  over  and 
stands  with  him.  It  has  in  it  the  spirit  of  obedience — right- 
eousness. The  act  rests  upon  the  promises  and  that  which  un- 
derlies them,  the  great  atonement  of  Christ,  and  the  feeling  in- 
spired by  the  Holy  Ghost,  that  it  may  commit  itself  to  divine 
mercy  for  forgiveness. 


PHILOSOPHY  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE.  109 

LECTURE    6. 

ELEMENTS    OF    CHEISTIAN    EXPERIENCE CONTINUED. 

We  IiavG  now  completed  the  line  of  experience  tliroiigli  which 
the  soul  passes  antecedent  to  and  conditioning  of  pardon.  We 
have  seen  that  they  emerge  in  a  rational  order,  each  condition- 
ing that  which  follows,  in  such  manner  that  the  order  cannot 
be  reversed  or  modified,  both  on  mental  and  moral  grounds. 
We  have  seen  that  they  take  their  rise  from  the  fact  of  sin  ; 
that  they  have  for  their  end  pardon.  We  have  seen  that  such 
is  the  nature  of  God  that  no  one  of  them  could  be  left  out  and 
pardon  be  possible ;  that  there  is  a  strict  harmony  between  them 
and  the  demands  of  an  ethical  system.  We  have  seen  also  that 
they  accord  with  the  teaching  of  revelation  and  with  the  constitu- 
tion of  the  spiritual  universe. 

The  only  question  that  remains  to  make  a  complete  philosophy 
of  them  is,  Are  they  adapted  to  the  end  of  pardon  ;  that  is,  do 
they  furnish  an  adequate  ground  for  pardon  ? 

To  this  question  we  answer  in  three  parts  :  First,  if  pardon  is  to 
be  administered  at  all  it  must  be  on  some  conditions.  If  man  is  to 
furnish  any  of  the  conditions  it  is  impossible  to  conceive  of  any 
others  than  those  mentioned.  There  remains  nothing  more  that 
he  can  do.  Second,we  answer  :  the  conditions  that  will  justify  the 
pardoning  act  God  alone  can  determine ;  and  he  has  declared 
that  upon  these  conditions  he  will  administer  pardon.  Third, 
we  answer :  complying  with  these  conditions,  souls  do  experi- 
ence pardon. 

We  add :  if  there  is  any  salvation  for  the  race  at  all,  or  any 
individuals  of  it,  it  must  be  through  pardon,  as,  if  penalty  is  not 
remitted,  it  must  be  executed.  This  is  not  an  arbitrary,  revers- 
ible, statutory  arrangement,  but  a  fundamental  ethical  necessity. 


J 10  PHILOSOPHY  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE. 

AVe  add  further:  tliat  it  is  impossible  to  conceive  of  any  inter- 
ests of  the  universe,  including  sovereign  and  subjects,  suffering 
by  the  administration  of  pardon  on  the  conditions  placed. 

"We  now  enter  upon  the  examination  of  anotlier  class  of  ex- 
periences. Those  already  examined  were  conditioning  to  salva- 
tion— or  pardon,  which  is  present  salvation;  conditions  which 
the  soul  performs,  and  divine  helps  thei-eto.  Those  experiences 
upon  which  we  now  enter  are  experiences  wlucli  arise  together 
with  and  after  the  realization  of  salvation.  Those  were  the 
experiences  of  a  soul  in  its  progress  from  a  state  of  guilt  and 
alienation  to  pardon.  These  are  the  experiences  of  a  soul  at  the 
time  and  after  it  has  come  to  God  and  has  received  pardon. 
In  the  former  experiences  man  was  more  prominent;  in  these 
experiences  now  to  be  examined  God  is  more  prominent  as 
actor;  but  throughcut  God  and  man  are  co-factoi"s.  In  the 
former  the  prodigal  is  seen  returning  to  his  father ;  in  these  the 
father  is  seen  receiving  and  reinstating  the  prodigal. 

Our  immediate  work  will  bo  to  state  the  experience  the  soul 
lias  on  its  initiation  to  life.  Furtlier  on  we  shall  deal  with  its 
experience  after  it  has  been  initiated  ;  along  the  way  of  its  jour- 
neying until  it  is  finally  saved. 

Pardon.  Following  the  faith  act,  and  conditioned  by  it  on 
the  human  side  and  by  the  atonement  on  the  divine  side,  are  par- 
don, forgiveness,  and  regeneration.  These  three  f  icts  are  concur- 
rent, and  unitedly  constitute  what  is  scripturally  and  theologically 
known  as  justification.  But  for  a  clear  understanding  it  is  nec- 
essary to  consider  these  terras  separately  and  so  to  ascertain  the 
exact  contents  of  each. 

The  terms  pardon  and  forgiveness  are  so  nearly  synonymous 
that  they  are  constantly  used  as  identical.     They  are  not,  how- 


PHILOSOPHY  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE.  Ill 

ever,  perfectly  identical ;  but  they  are  so  cognate  that  when  the 
difference  is  pointed  out  it  is  safe  to  use  them  interchangeably 
with  the  understanding  that  either  term  includes  the  other. 

Pardon,  in  strictness  and  as  used  in  the  Scriptures,  is  an  ad- 
ministrative act  by  which  the  penalty  of  sin  affixed  hy  law  is 
remitted,  not  exacted. 

Forgiveness  is  a  personal  act,  which  includes  pardon,  but 
goes  further  in  that  it  not  only  includes  tlie  remission  of  pen- 
alty but  reinstates  the  offender  in  the  favor  of  the  offended — 
restores  loving  relations  between  them.  When  pardon  is  un- 
derstood in  this  broader  sense,  as  it  constantly  is,  there  is  no 
use  for  the  added  term  forgiveness. 

Under  the  divine  government  sin  is  not  simply  an  offense 
against  law,  exposing  the  guilty  to  penalty,  but  it  is  an  offense 
to  God,  awakening  his  personal  displeasure  against  the  culprit. 
His  relations  are  personal  as  well  as  administrative.  Pardon  af- 
fects both  his  feeling  and  administration  with  i*espect  to  the 
offender  when  used  in  the  broader  sense  of  forgiveness.  By 
forgiveness  his  displeasure  is  assuaged  and  his  love  restored,  as 
well  as  penalty  remitted.  Tiie  pardoning  act  brings  offender 
and  offended  into  loving  relations  to  each  other.  Under  the 
divine  government  penalty^  is  never  remitted  without  forgiveness. 

We  have  said  that  pardon,  in  its  lowest  sense,  is  the  remis- 
sion of  penalty.  Kow  let  us  pause  to  determine  exactly  what 
that  means.  A  remitted  penalty  is  a  penalty  deserved,  but  not 
inflicted.  When  the  penalty  is  inflicted  pardon  is  excluded. 
When  pardon  is  extended  the  infliction  of  penalty  is  excluded. 
This  is  not  a  mere  etymological  or  lexical  demand  of  the  terms. 
It  is  a  strict  and  necessary  ethical  demand.  A  sin  that  is  pun- 
ished cannot  be  pardoned  ;  and  vice  versa,  a  sin  that  is  pardoned 
cannot  be  punished.  The  one  term  excludes  the  other.  Now,  if 
this  is  true,  pardoned  sin  is  never,  and  never  caui  be,-. punished 


112  PHILOSOPHY    OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIEKCE. 

Bin,  and  punished  sin  never  is,  and  never  can  be,  pardoned  sin ; 
or,  more  definitely  still,  sin  cannot  at  the  same  time  be  both  par- 
doned and  punished,  nor  can  it,  nnder  a  lioly  administration,  be 
neither  pardoned  nor  punished,  but  must  be  one  or  the  other. 
This  statement  is  held  to  be  axiomatic,  and  is  postulated  as  such. 

The  elfect  of  the  foregoing  postulate  is  to  do  away  with  the 
theological  fiction  of  substitutional  punishment  which  has  been 
made  to  serve  so  important  a  part  in  the  Calvinistic  creed,  and 
in  the  Arniinian  creed  as  well,  by  misinterpretation.  The 
fiction  is  this,  as  placed  in  the  Calvinistic  creed  :  that  by  elec- 
tion of  sovei'eign  grace  a  certain  number  of  souls  were  deeded 
by  covenant  to  Christ,  and  that  for  these  he  made  atonement, 
which  atonement  consisted  in  his  taking  upon  himself  the  penalty 
of  their  sins — that  is,  received  their  punishment ;  in  view  of  which 
they  are  graciously  pardoned.  The  fiction  involves  the  contra- 
diction above  named-;  namely,  that  the  sins  of  the  elect  are  both 
punished  and  pardoned.  This  itself  is  fatal  to  it,  without  tak- 
ing account  of  its  otlier  unethical  elements,  which  are  numer- 
ous and  some  of  them  atrocious,  but  which  our  limits  will 
not  permit  us  to  name  even.  The  full  discussion  will  be 
found  in  the  volume  on  "Atonement  in  Christ"  in  Studies  in 
Theology. 

The  theological  fiction  as  it  appears  in  some  Arminian  theo- 
rizing, while  free  from  some  of  the  most  offensive  inclusions 
of  the  Calvinistic  creed,  is  not  entirely  free  from  the  fault  specifi- 
cally mentioned  here.  The  Arminian  theory  is  often  so  stated 
as  to  involve  the  doctrine  of  substitutional  punishment  and 
becomes  heir  to  all  its  embarrassments,  among  others  the  contra- 
diction involved.  It  seems  to  be  about  this  :  that  Christ  took 
upon  himself  the  punishment  due  the  sins  of  the  whole  world  and 
actually  suffered  it,  the  satisfaction  to  divine  justice  being  full 
and  complete ;   nevertheless,  he  does  not  release  sinners  them- 


PHILOSOPHY  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE.  113 

selves  from  the  penalty  unless  certain  conditions  are  complied 
with,  but  when  the  conditions  are  complied  with  the  sins  are 
pardoned.  Now,  here  the  same  contradiction  emerges  as  in  the 
former  case,  the  contradiction  of  the  same  sins  being  both  par- 
doned and  punished.  It  escapes  the  infamy  of  the  doctrine  of 
election,  but  it  is  heir  to  the  other  infamies  of  punishing  the 
innocent  for  tlie  guilty,  and,  worse  even  than  Calvinism  itself, 
the  infamy  of  demanding  conditions  before  the  sinner  shall  be 
released  from  obligation  to  suffer  the  penalty  which  has  already 
exhausted  itself  on  a  substitute,  and,  by  consequence,  liability  to 
the  re-infliction  of  the  full  penalty  which  has  been  once  endured 
by  another — worse  than  Calvinism. 

Tiie  whole  theory  of  substitutional  punishment  as  a  ground 
either  of  conditional  or  unconditional  pardon  is  unethical,  con- 
tradictory, and  self-subversive. 

Pardon  is  an  administrative  act,  and  as  such  always  neces- 
sarily transpires  in  time.  It  is  impossible  that  it  should  be  an 
eternal  act,  that  is,  that  it  should  exist  from  eternity. 

It  always  and  necessarily  implies  the  antecedent  existence  of 
the  sin  that  is  pardoned,  and  cannot  be  anticipative  of  it. 
Pardon  of  sins,  therefore,  at  any  given  time,  does  ]iot  imply  or 
include  the  pardon  of  sins  that  may  occur  subsequently,  nor 
docs  it  prevent  the  occurrence  of  subsequent  sins.  Sins  subse- 
quent to  pardon  need  to  be  jDardoned,  or  their  penalty  holds  as 
if  no  preceding  pardon  for  preceding  sins  had  taken  place. 
There  is  no  escape  from  the  penal  consequences  of  any  sin  in 
any  other  way  than  through  pardon. 

Penalty  is  eternal  if  not  remitted  ;  that  is,  if  pardon  be  not 
extended.  The  guilt  of  sin  does  not  expire,  by  lapse  of  time, 
at    the   end   of   a   given   amount  of   penalty.     Forgiveness   is 


114  PHFLOSOPET  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE. 

necessary  to  its  termination.  Once  guilty,  the  soul  mnst  per- 
manently remain  guilty,  unless  forgiveness  supervenes  to 
remove  the  guilt.  Ko  amount  of  suffering  can  purge  it.  It 
cannot  purge  itself.  The  act  which  purges  it  must  emanate 
from  the  being  against  whom  it  is  committed.  There  is  no 
end  to  its  demerit  except  as  forgiveness  ends  it.  The  penalty 
is  death,  and  death  is  eternal,  if  not  revoked. 

Pardon  is  God's  own  administrative  act,  and  must  always  be 
in  accordance  with  his  infinite  holiness.  Even  God  has  no 
power  either  to  withhold  or  adniinister  pardon  capriciously  or 
arbitrarily  or  unethically,  that  is,  to  the  infringement  of  the 
holiness  of  his  nature. 

Pardon  is  an  act  of  the  divine  sovereign  toward  the  sinning 
subject  which  releases  the  subject  from  the  obligation  to  suffer 
the  penalty  due  his  sin  and  releases  the  sovereign  from  the 
obligation  to  inflict  penalty.  It  is  thus  seen  that  the  pardon 
act  affects  both  the  sovereign  and  the  subject.  The  act 
involves  the  ethical  character  of  the  sovereign,  and  the  state  of 
tlie  subject  and  his  relations  to  law  and  administration.  It  is 
impossible  that  God  should  maintain  his  character  of  a  just 
and  holy,  or  even  wise  and  merciful,  sovereign,  if  he  exercised 
the  pardoning  power  or  pi-erogative  arbitrarily  or  without 
respect  to  conditions.  That  would  be  to  abrogate  law,  or 
immorally,  unethically,  to  override  it.  It  would  be  an  act  of 
sovereignty  which  would  unhinge  the  moral  system.  It  is  an 
absolute  necessity  that  there  should  be  conditions  precedent 
and  concurrent. 

Nothing  is  more  certain,  therefore,  than  that  God,  as  a  holy 
sovereign,  can  neither  remit  penalty  nor  restore  to  favor 
without  conditions  which  show  that  he  is  not  indifferent  to  sin. 


PHILOSOniY  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE.  115 

It  is  worth  while  to  saj  further  that  while  the  pardon  act 
must  be  conditioned,  it  must  also,  to  be  of  any  avail,  be 
attended  with  a  subjective  change  in  the  recipient.  Mere 
sovereign  forgiveness  which  left  the  sinner  a  sinner  still 
would  be  of  no  benefit  to  the  recipient,  and  would  be  ruinous 
to  the  character  of  the  sovereign  and  to  the  interests  of  the 
universe. 

How  does  pardon  hecome  matter  of  experience  f  Pardon, 
as  Ave  liave  seen,  is  an  administrative  and  a  personal  act  of 
God.  How  does  pardon  become  matter  of  experience  to 
man?  It  is  impossible  that  the  soul  should  be  conscious  of  an 
act  of  God  in  the  same  way  as  it  is  conscious  of  its  own  acts  or 
state.  Consciousness  cannot  transcend  the  subject.  It  is 
strictly  limited  to  subjective  experience;  but  the  pardoning  act 
is  not  a  subjective  experience,  but  it  is  the  act  of  anotlier. 
How,  then,  can  the  fact  of  pardon  become  matter  of  experi- 
ence ?     And  what  precisely  is  the  experience  ? 

To  this  question  tliere  can  be  but  one  answer :  ^'  The  soul 
feels  the  assurance  that  it  is  pardoned."  The  feeling  is  its 
experience.  The  act  of  pardon  transcends  experience,  but  the 
feeling  of  pardon  is  matter  of  experience.  The  act  God  per- 
forms ;  the  responsive  assurance  the  soul  feels.  That  tliere  is 
a  divine  witnessing  in  the  soul  which  produces  the  expe- 
rience of  assurance  of  the  pardoning  act  is  the  testimony  of 
God  himself.  With  the  forgiveness  he  creates  the  con- 
sciousness of  it  by  causing  the  soul  to  feel  the  joy  of  it. 
The  feeling  of  guilt  is  removed,  and  the  feeling  of  pardon 
is  imparted;  but,  as  the  act  of  pardon  takes  place  in  the 
divine  mind,  all  the  experience  the  soul  can  have  of  it  is  the 
feeling  that  it  has  been  done,  and  the  concomitant  emotions 
attending  it. 


116  PHILOSOPHY  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE. 

Concurrently  with  pardon  and  forgiveness,  wliich,  as  we 
have  seen,  is  an  administrative  act  of  God,  releasing  the  soul 
from  guilt,  that  is,  the  obhgation  to  punishment,  and  releasing 
God  from  the  obligation  to  inflict  punishment;  and.  restoring 
the  soul  to  favor,  an  act  witnessed  to  the  soul  by  God  himself, 
is  a  work  done  in  the  soul,  generally  designated  by  the  term 
regeneration,  and  variously  characterized  in  the  Scriptures  as 
"  being  born  again,"  "  created  anew  in  Christ  Jesus," 
"  cleansed,"  "  quickened,"  "  renewed,"  and  other  descriptive 
phrases  of  similar  import. 

What  is  regeneration  f  Perhaps  there  is  no  subject-matter  of 
experience  about  which  there  has  been  more  confused  thinking 
than  that  described  by  these  terms.  Uncritical  and  unscientific 
ignorance  has  woven  a  garb  of  sensuousness  about  them.  Creed 
theologizers  have  added  to  the  confusion.  The  imagination  has 
been  left  to  run  wild  and  invest  them  with  all  sorts  of  meaning. 
"Without  doubt  the  case  is  one  of  real  difliculty.  On  two  points 
all  agree  :  First,  that  regeneration  is  a  work  wrought  in  the  soul ; 
second,  that  God  is  the  agent.  There  is  disagreement  on  three 
points :  First,  as  to  the  time-relation  of  the  act  to  other  parts 
of  the  experience,  Calvinistic  theologians  placing  it  at  the 
initiation,  before  faith  and  pardon,  Arminians  placing  it  subse- 
quent to  faith  and  concurrently  with  pardon ;  second,  there  is 
difference  as  to  the  question  whether  it  is  a  conditioned  act,  or 
one  wrought  by  pure  sovereignty  without  conditions ;  third, 
there  is  difference  as  to  precisely  what  is  done.  The  first  and 
second  of  these  points  are  theological  questions  upon  the 
polemics  of  which  I  cannot  enlarge. 

The  third  point  is  that  which  my  thesis  requires  me  to 
handle.  The  philosophy  of  the  experience  demands  that  the 
experience  should  be  determined.     I  postulate  that,  as  matter 


PHILOSOPHY  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE.  117 

of  experience,  it  is  concurrent  with  pardon ;  is  subsequent  to 
faith  and  conditioned  on  the  existence  of  faith — that  it  is  syn- 
ergistic and  not  monergistic. 

To  determine  what  regeneration  is,  it  is  necessary  to  recur  to 
the  subject  of  pardon.  We  liave  said  that  pardon  is  an  admin- 
istrative act  of  God  which  relates  to  the  guilt  of  the  soul,  and 
which  cancels  guilt.  Upon  this  point,  I  believe,  there  is  per- 
fect agreement. 

ISTow,  the  first  point  I  make  is  this :  that  pardon  disposes  of 
the  question  of  guilt.  If,  with  the  Calvinist,  we  make  guilt 
to  include  demerit  for  original  sin,  so  called,  as  well  as  all  per- 
sonal sins,  then  pardon  purges  from  the  guilt  both  of  original 
sin  and  of  all  personal  sins.  Or,  if  we  take  the  Arminian  view, 
that  guilt  is  only  predicable  of  personal  sins,  then  pardon  purges 
from  the  guilt  of  personal  sins.  In  either  case  pardon  disposes 
of  the  whole  question  of  guilt.  When  sin  is  pardoned  there 
is  no  remaining  guilt.  I  attach  great  importance  to  this  point, 
and  therefore  particularly  emphasize  it. 

The  next  point  I  make  is  this :  if  pardon  is  an  administrative 
act,  which  finally  and  completely  disposes  of  guilt,  then  regen- 
eration has  nothing  to  do  with  guilt.  It  does  not  at  all  deal 
with  the  question  of  guilt  or  in  any  way  refer  to  it — pardon 
lias  extinguished  it;  it  is  non  est. 

What,  then,  is  the  function  of  regeneration  ? 

We  make  the  point  that  regeneration  has  to  do  with  the  soul 
itself — the  condition  and  state  of  its  powers.  All  the  terms 
descriptive  of  it  are  in  harmony  with  this. 

Tlie  consideration  of  this  point  will  raise  two  inquiries: 
First,  What  is  the  condition  of  the  soul  prior  to  regeneration  ? 
Second,  What  is  effected  by  regeneration  ? 

On  the  first  point,  "  What  is  the  condition  of  the  soul  prior 


118  PIIILOSOPHT  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE. 

to  regeneration  ? "  we  affirm  in  general  terms  that  it  is  not  in  a 
normal  condition — is  not  as  it  was  originally  constituted.  This 
abnormalcy,  we  affirm,  is  not  peculiar  to  some  souls,  but  is  com- 
mon to  all  souls ;   includes  tlie  entire  race. 

The  original  constitution  of  the  soul,  as  has  been  shown,  was 
that  it  was  invested  with  double  relations,  one  to  the  sensuous, 
the  other  to  the  supersensuous,  or  spiritual  world.  The  equa- 
tion of  its  powers  was  such  that  it  was  able  to  decide  for  itself 
whether  it  Avould  determine  itself  to  the  sensuous  or  supersensu- 
ous. Its  law  was  that  it  should  determine  itself  to  the  spiritual ; 
that  is,  that  the  spiritual  should  dominate ;  that  in  all  things 
the  sensuous  life  should  be  subject  to  the  spiritual — should  be 
governed  and  regulated  by  it.  Its  righteousness  was  made  to 
depend  upon  its  self-determined,  that  is,  its  free  conformity  to 
this  divine  constitution.  Tlie  statute  under  M'liich  it  was 
placed  recognized,  and  was  based  upon,  this  divine  constitution, 
and  served  as  a  test  whether  it  would  conform  to  it ;  that  is, 
whether  the  spiritual  or  sensuous  should  dominate  it — whether 
the  animal  or  divine  should  have  the  rule. 

The  free  soul  revolutionized  itself — renounced  the  order  es- 
tablished for  it;  put  the  reins  of  government  in  the  hands  of 
the  sensuous  and  reduced  the  spirit  to  subjection  ;  put  the  beast 
upon  the  throne,  and  made  the  angel  serve  in  chains. 

This  was  an  act  of  rebellion  and  involved  guilt.  These  re- 
sults followed :  (1)  God's  favor  was  lost — guilt  always  and 
necessarily  involves  that ;  (2)  the  helpfulness  of  his  love  and 
approving  presence  with  the  soul  was  withdrawn.  (3)  The  equa- 
tion of  the  soul's  powers  was  lost.  The  divine  constitution 
under  Avhich  it  was  created  was  shattered.  Tlie  will  and  the 
affections  were  enslaved  and  bound  to  the  sensual.  The  soul 
was  marred,  and  self-determined  to  abnormalcy. 

You  will  observe  that  even  in  this  case  abnormalcy  was  effect 


PUILOSOrHY  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE.  119 

of  guilt,  not  ground  of  it ;  not  itself  guilt  but  a  condition  of  the 
soul  superinduced  by  sin — and  a  condition  from  which  it  can 
never  recover  itself,  and  from  which  it  can  never  be  recovered 
while  guilt  exists,  or  until  guilt  is  removed. 

Now  I  affirm  that  this  effect  of  abnornialcy  which  resulted 
from  Adam's  sin,  and  wliich  consisted  in  the  loss  of  the  equa- 
tion of  his  poM'ers  whereby  he  was  able  to  determine  himself 
to  righteousness,  and  which  sensualized  his  entire  nature,  de- 
scends by  heredity  to  his  posterity.  The  efect,  observe.  Abnor- 
malcy  of  soul  is  a  disease  which  taints  us  all — a  moral  leprosy. 
"When  we  reach  moral  consciousness  sensuality  is  found  already 
regnant  in  our  affections  and  will  by  heredity. 

Does  it  involve  us  in  guilt  ?  I  affirm,  no  ;  it  is  ethically  im- 
possible. It  is  impossible  there  should  be  guilt  where  there 
has  been  no  action  of  the  subject.  Therefore  I  affirm  tliat  it 
is  a  case  which  the  administrative  act  of  pardon  does  not  reach 
at  all. 

The  point  I  now  make  is  this :  the  pardon,  which  as  we 
have  seen  is  an  administrative  act,  by  which  the  soul  is  entirely 
purged  of  guilt,  does  not  at  all  affect  the  abnormulcy  of  nature 
into  which  -the  soul  had  fallen  and  which  has  acquired  addi- 
tional strength  by  indulgence.  But,  then,  what  advantage 
could  pardon  be  to  it  if  it  were  still  left  under  the  dominion 
of  sensuality — spiritually  dead  ?     None  whatever. 

This  question  points  exactly  to  our  remaining  want,  for 
wliich  regeneration  provides,  and  so  indicates  the  function  of 
regeneration  and  also  determines  what  it  is. 

Concurrently  with  pai-don,  God,  in  the  person  of  the  Holy 
Ghost,  returns  to  and  takes  up  his  loving  and  helpful  abode  in  the 
soul  from  which  guilt  expelled  him,  and  by  his  presence  and 
agency  he  restores  the  lost  equation — enables  the  soul  to  right- 
eousness, rebuilds  the  shattered  constitution,  reduces  usurpers 


120  PHILOSOPHY  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE. 

to  subjection,  and  reinstates  the  rightful  sovereign.  This  is  re- 
genei'iition.  The  soul  by  the  act  is  made  normal.  Sensuosity 
is  not  destroyed,  for  it  belonged  to  the  original  constitution  of 
the  soul,  but  it  is  put  in  subjection.  It  is  not  necessary  to  as- 
sume that  the  reconstruction  replaces  tli©  soul  in  its  original 
condition.  That  is  certainly  not  true,  arid  it  is  impossible  it 
should  be  true.  It  is  a  soul  that  has  had  a  taste  of  sin  ;  that  is 
liabited  to  the  long-undisputed  dominion  of  sense  ;  that  is  still 
sphered  in  environments  of  evil ;  that  is  dwarfed  iu  its  facul- 
ties ;  whose  lusts  by  indulgence  have  grown  masterful.  It  is 
impossible  to  change  these  facts.  The  evil  effects  are  not  and 
cannot  be  eradicated  by  any  agency  at  once.  But  this  is  what 
has  happened  :  God  has  so  revealed  himself  to  the  soul,  and  in 
the  soul,  that  its  long-alienated  and  debauched  affections  now 
return  to  him,  and  its  weakened  and  wayward  will  has  been 
empowered  to  give  in  its  allegiance  to  him.  The  lost  equation 
of  its  powers  is  restored. 

This  is  not  a  dry,  arid  change.  It  is  a  spring  in  the  desert ; 
it  is  the  shout  of  freedom  when  the  gyves  and  chains  are  broken  ; 
it  is  life  from  the  dead  ;  it  is  the  dawn  of  heaven  in  the  dun- 
geon of  a  despairing  soul — the  bridegroom,  with  his  glorious 
train,  lighting  up  the  long-deserted  chambers  of  his  future  home. 

How  is  regeneration  effected  ?  The  general  answer  to  this 
question  is  not  difficult.  It  is  by  the  operation  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  in  the  soul  of  man  conditioned  by  the  posture  of  the 
soul.  I  emphasize  conditioned  by  the  posture  of  the  soul.  An 
impenitent  soul  cannot  be  regenerated.  The  effect,  therefore, 
is  not  wholly  monergistic.  God  works  regeneration  only  when 
the  soul  is  in  condition  to  be  the  recipient.  This  fact  deter- 
mines the  position  which  regeneration  holds  in  the  line  of  ex- 
periences by  which  the  soul  becomes  Christian.     It  is  the  last 


PIIILOSOniY  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE.  121 

in  the  line.  Its  conditioning  antecedents  are  in  a  fixed  order : 
conviction  of  sin,  repentance,  faith,  forgiveness;  the  last  in  the 
line — that  is,  forgiveness — being  concurrent  with  but  logically 
precedent  to  regeneration.  This  invariable  order  is  significant. 
It  points  to  a  law  of  sequence,  each  part  having  a  relation  to 
ever}'-  other  part  determined  by  the  constitution  of  the  mind 
and  fundamental  ethics  of  the  divine  administration — the  laws 
of  the  spiritual  world. 

How  under  these  fundamental  laws  the  Spirit  operates  re- 
generation in  the  soul  is  not  given  to  us  to  know.  The  eifect 
is  a  reconstruction  of  the  soul — a  re-adjustnient  of  the  reigning 
powers  in  it — a  reversal  of  what  by  sin  had  become  the  dominant 
law  of  its  life.  Is  the  revolution  effected  by  a  direct  act  of  the 
divine  will,  a  direct  energizing,  or  by  instrumentality  of  truth 
divinely  communicated?  Probably  both.  We  do  know  that 
truth  is  a  mighty  instrument  for  accomplishing  spiritual  re- 
sults. We  do  know  that  the  word  of  God  is  embodied  power 
of  God,  that  he  communicates  his  saving  energy  through  the 
word ;  but  we  do  not  know  but  that  in  regenerating  the  soul 
there  is  also  a  direct  energizing  in  the  intellect,  the  affections, 
and  the  will — a  lifting,  inspiring,  recreative  energy.  The  ef- 
fect produced  points  to  such  immediate  agency,  and  we  see  not 
how  to  account  for  it  in  any  other  way. 

The  state  arrived  at  by  the  line  of  experiences  which  culmi- 
nate in  regeneration  is  called  in  the  Bible,  and  in  theological 
writings,  justification.  If  I  were  set  to  write  a  theological  dis- 
quisition it  would  be  necessary  that  I  should  enter  a  wide  field 
of  polemics  here  ;  but  this  is  not  what  my  thesis  demands. 
My  work  is  to  deal  simply  with  an  experience. 

Does  the  term  justification  represent  any  thing  in  actual  ex- 
perience beyond  what  emerges  in  pardon  and  regeneration  ? 
We  think,  no.     It  is  a  biblical  and  theological  technic  which 


122  rrirLosopiTT  of  christian  experience. 

describes,  not  an  experience  beyond  or  different  from  forgive- 
ness and  reo-eneration,  but  how  God  views  tlie  forgiven  and 
regenerate  soul  and  what  will  be  his  treatment  of  it.  In  gen- 
eral terms  it  signifies  that  a  forgiven  and  regenerated  soul 
stands  in  the  divine  thought  and  feeling,  and  will  be  treated  as 
if  it  had  never  sinned,  as  if  its  righteousness  had  never  been 
fractured.  Possibly  the  deepest  analysis  of  Christian  con- 
sciousness would  discover  an  experience  precisely  answering  to 
that  fact ;  but,  if  so,  it  would  be  found  to  run  so  close  to  the 
consciousness  of  pardon  and  the  feeling  of  adoption  as  to  be 
scarcely  differentiable. 

In  fact  the  state  reached  is  fitly  described  by  the  term  justi- 
fication as  describing  how  the  forgiven  soul  stands  related  to  God. 
The  term  forgiveness  and  the  experience  of  forgiveness  implies 
all  that ;  but  \\q  cannot  further  enter  the  theological  polemic. 

Is  the  forgiven  soul  and  the  regenerate  soul  thereby  made 
actually  righteous?  Here,  again,  opens  a  wide  polemic  upon 
which  we  cannot  enter  at  large.  One  answers  j'es ;  it  is 
righteous,  that  is,  its  faith  is  counted  for  righteousness.  An- 
other answers  yes;  it  is  rigliteous,  but  not  in  itself.  It  is 
made  righteous  by  having  Christ's  righteousness  imputed  to  it. 
I  answer,  if  righteousness  means  absolutely  purged  of  guilt, 
then  the  pardoned  soul  is  righteous — for  pardon  removes  guilt. 
If,  more  than  that,  righteousness  means  a  determination  of 
the  affections  and  tlie  will  to  righteousness,  a  fixed  desire  to  be 
righteous,  and  a  ruling  purpose  of  the  mind  to  be  righteous,  and 
a  state  in  which  the  soul  does  not  of  knowledge  and  intent  com- 
mit sin,  then  again  yes.  But  if  righteousness  means  flawless- 
ness  of  act  as  compared  with  a  perfect  law,  or  absolute  perfection 
as  to  nature,  tlien,  no. 

God  himself  designates  all  forgiven  and  saved  souls  as  right- 


rHILOSOPHY  OF  CHRISTIAN'  EXrERIENCE  123 

eous.  The  rigliteousness  of  any  man  can  only  be  relative. 
Only  the  infinite  is  absolutely  righteous.  Kightconsness  to 
any  finite  being  means  loyalty  of  the  will  to  what  is  known  or 
believed  to  be  right — it  is  the  spirit  of  righteousness.  This 
God  inspires  in  every  truly  regenerate  heart.  In  its  deepest 
import  it  is  the  righteousness  of  faith.  Forgiven  men,  regen- 
erated by  the  Holy  Ghost,  are  judged  and  justified  by  tlieir 
faith  and  by  the  works  of  faith.  No  faith  is  or  can  be  counted 
for  righteousness  which  contains  not  in  it  the  spirit  of  right- 
eousness— that  is,  which  does  not  determine  the  soul  to  the 
obedience  of  the  law  of  righteousness  and  brings  not  forth  the 
fruits  of  righteousness. 

There  could  be  no  greater  mistake  than  to  suppose  that  the 
justification  which  is  by  faith  is  the  justification  of  a  soul  in 
which  the  spirit  of  righteousness  is  not  implanted,  or  that  God 
accounts  a  soul  righteous  either  on  account  of  faith  or  on  ac- 
count of  the  imputation  to  it  of  the  righteousness  of  another, 
when  in  itself  there  is  found  the  spirit  of  unrighteousness. 
That  which  is  matter  of  experience  to  the  soul  in  its  justifica- 
tion is  that  it  loves  righteousness  and  loyally  purposes  as  nearly 
as  possible  to  fulfill  all  righteousness.  Such  a  soul  God  ac- 
counts just,  and  will  deal  with  it  as  if  it  had  never  sinned  when 
he  comes  to  judge  it  at  the  last  day. 

The  justification  which  is  concomitant  with  forgiveness  and  re- 
generation means  not  some  unethical  declaration  of  a  righteous- 
ness which  does  not  exist,  but  the  acknowledgment  of  tliat  which 
does  exist  but  which  the  soul  has  obtained  through  faith.  The 
precise  facts  in  the  case  are  these  :  the  soul  was  an  unrighteous 
soul ;  when  it  becomes  justified  it  does  not  mean  that  it  is  justi- 
fied in  its  former  unrighteousness — declared  righteous  when  it  is 
not  righteous — for  any  reason,  for  there  could  be  no  reason  in 
such  a  contradiction.    But  it  means  this,  rather  :  that  it  has  been 


124  PHILOSOPHY  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE. 

purged  of  its  unrigliteousness  by  forgiveness  and  lias  been  made 
rigliteons  by  regeneration  ;  and  this  was  brought  about  by  a 
series  of  experiences,  the  last  of  which  was  regeneration  made 
possible  by  the  atonement  through  faith.  Therefore  by  faith 
it  is  treated  as  righteous — its  past  unrighteousness  being  blotted 
out,  and  its  will  beino-  brought  under  the  law  of  righteousness. 

When  it  is  said  that  faith  is  imputed  for  righteousness  it  can- 
not be  meant  that  the  soul  is  void  of  righteousness,  and  that  faith 
answers  to  all  the  obligations  of  righteousness ;  but  it  means 
this,  rather:  that  faith  which  unites  the  soul  to  Christ,  securing 
forgiveness  for  past  sin,  secures  also  the  allegiance  of  the  soul 
to  him  which  is  actual  righteousness.  The  righteousness  in- 
wrought is  tlirough  faith  ;  but  it  is  a  real  principle  of  right- 
eousness, by  which  the  soul  becomes  righteous.  When  it  is 
said  that  the  soul  is  righteous  in  Christ's  righteousness  it  is 
not  to  be  understood  that  Christ's  righteousness  is  made 
over  to  us,  so  that,  unrighteous  in  ourselves,  we  are  made  right- 
eous in  his  righteousness ;  but  this,  rather  :  our  righteousness 
is  derived  from  Christ  in  that  it  is  through  him  that  we 
attain  unto  it. 

When  the  soul  has  been  forgiven  it  is  purged  of  past  sin. 
By  forgiveness  its  guilt  is  removed— it  has  ceased  to  be 
guilty ;  that  is  negative  righteousness.  When  the  soul  is  re- 
generated —  that  is,  born  of  God — not  only  is  sin  removed, 
but  the  principle  of  righteousness  is  implanted  in  it ;  that  is 
positive  righteousness.  By  the  conjoint  process  the  soul  is 
made  righteous. 

The  regenerate  soul  is  adopted  of  God.  This  is  matter  of 
experience.  As  in  the  case  of  pardon,  adoption  is  a  divine  act. 
God  puts  the  forgiven  and  regenerate  soul  among  his  children 
and  constitutes  it  a  child  and  an  heir.    The  experience  of  the  soul 


PHILOSOPHY  OF  CHRISTFAK  EXPERIENCE.  125 

is  a  consciousness  of  affiliation — a  liome  feeling  in  the  house- 
hold of  faith.  There  is  no  more  pronounced  fact  of  experience 
than  this.  Tlie  ^JJa-father  is  put  in  the  heart  of  the  new-born 
child.  The  affiliated  soul  spontaneously  utters  it — feels  it — 
knows  itself  no  longer  to  be  an  alien  and  stranger,  but  a  child. 
Whatever  its  past  sin,  however  consciously  unworthy,  the  sense 
of  kinship  now  thrills  it.  It  is  at  home  under  the  family  roof- 
tree.  It  has  left  its  swineherd  life  and  rags,  and  wears  the  family 
insignia.  It  sits  at  the  family  table  and  shares  in  the  family  joy. 
This  is  a  strange  fact.  But  yesterday  this  soul  was  an  alien  and 
outcast.  It  knew  of  God  only  as  a  name  ;  possibly  it  doubted  his 
existence  ;  it  thought  of  him  even  with  dismay  ;  it  wanted  noth- 
ing to  do  with  him  ;  if  it  could  it  would  have  annihilated  him  ;his 
terrors  made  it  afraid  ;  it  ran  from  his  approach  ;  its  greatest 
dread  was  the  idea  that  some  day  it  would  have  to  meet  him ; 
it  detested  the  family  name!  Who  can  explain  it  ?  To-day  it 
rushes  to  his  arms;  thrills  with  the  mention  of  his  name;  longs 
for  him  "as  they  that  watch  for  the  morning."  Now  it  is  no 
longer  an  alien  and  stranger  from  God  ;  but  it  is  a, pilgrim  and 
stranger  on  the  earth.  That  which  was  its  only  home  is  now  no 
home  for  it.  Heavenly  attractions  have  caught  it  and  heavenly 
voices  call  it.  Again  I  say  there  is  no  more  pronounced  ex- 
perience than  this  ;  and  there  is  no  accounting  for  it  but  on  the 
theory  that  God  has  put  himself  into  loving  relations  with  the 
soul  and  created  in  it  a  feeling  of  affiliation. 

All  these  several  facts  are  facts  attested  in  its  consciousness 
by  the  Holy  Spirit — the  renewing  and  regenerating  agent. 
It  is  a  great  and  radical  experience,  and  it  carries  with  it  so  long 
as  the  soul  is  loyal  to  it— that  is,  so  long  as  it  remains  a  fact — the 
absolute  and  perfect  title  to  eternal  life,  and  guarantees  the  ac- 
complishnient  of  whatever  further  experience  is  necessary  to 


126  PHILOSOPHY  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE. 

bring  it  to  tlie  final  possession  of  the  eternal  life  to  which  bj 
its  adoption  it  has  become  heir.  While  it  remains  there  is  no 
flaw  in  the  title  and  nothing  can  improve  the  title.  This  I  as- 
sert witli  great  and  confident  emphasis.  The  foregoing  discus- 
sions we  think  clearly  point  out  the  j^rocess  throngh  which  the 
soul  passes  in  becoming  Christian,  and  indicate  the  grounds 
and  significance  of  each  snccessive  stage  of  the  process.  Tliej 
show  that  to  become  Christian  there  is  a  genuine  subjective  ex- 
perience. They  clearly  show  God's  7uetliod  in  saving  men. 
They  show  what  salvation  is — that  is,  that  it  is  deliverance  from 
the  incurred  penalties  of  sin  ;  but,  more  radically  than  tliat,  that  it 
is  a  subjective  change  wronglit  in  the  character  of  the  soul  it- 
self, in  the  absence  of  which  salvation  in  the  inferior  sense  is  im- 
possible. They  point  out  a  sufiicient  reason  for  the  whole  process 
and  each  distinct  stage  of  it.  They  show  the  relations  of  parts 
of  the  experience.  They  demonstrate  that  the  entire  process 
is  strictly  ethical,  and  in  no  respect  artificial,  mechanical,  or 
wliimsical,  or  arbitrary — that  they  are  radical,  and  lie  at  the 
roots  of  the  ethical  well-being  of  the  universe.  They  are  con- 
sistent with  righteousness  in  both  of  its  essential  parts — eternal 
justice  and  eternal  love. 


PHILOSOrHY  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE.  127 


LECTURE  VII. 
SOME    PHASES    OF    EXPERIKNCE    SUBSEQUENT    TO    REGENERATION. 

"VYe  have  seen  in  the  lectures  preceding  God's  method  in  re- 
covering the  soul  of  num  from  a  state  of  guilt  to  a  state  of 
righteousness  ;  it  remains  that  we  consider  his  further  methods 
with  it,  preparatory  to  its  admission  to  the  everlasting  blessed- 
ness to  which,  by  its  recovery  from  guilt  and  re-creation  in 
righteousness,  it  has  become  \\q\y prospective. 

We  attach  importance  to  the  phrase  '•^ heir prosjyectlve.''''  By 
it  we  do  not  mean  simply  an  heir  whose  accession  to  tlie  in- 
heritance is  in  the  future,  but  an  heir  whose  final  accession  to 
the  inheritance  is  still  further  conditioned  ;  an  heir  who  has  ob- 
tained a  title  if  he  do  not  forfeit  it  by  future  unfaithfulness, 
but  a  title  which  may  be  forfeited. 

This  leads  to  the  further  statement,  that  nothing  experienced 
by  the  soul  in  its  forgiveness  and  regeneration  guarantees  its 
final  attainment  to  everlasting  life.  The  doctrine  of  iinal  per- 
severance is  an  nnethical  fiction.  Probation  does  not  terminate 
with  regeneration ;  or  rather  regeneration  does  not  tenninate 
probation.  We  do  not  here  enter  upon  the  polemics  of  this 
statement,  but  proceed  upon  i\\Q  postulaUcm. 

The  object  of  continued  probation  may  be  stated  as  triplex  ; 

first,  still  further  to  test  the  soul  by  subjecting  it  to  trial  and 

temptation  that  it  may  furnish  the  proof  that  its  determination  to 

righteousness  is  final — one  which  it  will  not  reverse  under  any 

exigencies  of  its  existence ;  and  that,  by  the   trial,  the  graces 

implanted  in  its  regenerate  life  may  have  opportunity  to  grow 

in  strength  and  beauty  until  they  come  to  ripeness,  robustness 

of  manhood  stature.     No  trial — no  strength. 
9 


128  rniLOSOPHY  OF  CHRIS TI Ay  EXPERIENCE. 

The  second  object  of  continued  probation  is  that  the  res^enerate 
soul  may  have  opportunity  to  witness  to  the  power  of  the  grace 
of  God  to  save  from  sin,  and  to  keep  the  soul  under  all  stress  of 
trial  and  temptation  in  peace  and  assurance  of  faith;  a  witness 
not  with  the  tongue  only^  or  chiefly^  but  by  a  life  well  ordered 
and  reilolent  of  divine  virtues;  that  it  may  shine  as  a  light  in 
the  surrounding  darkness  of  sin  and  unrigheousness,  and  by  its 
shining  light  up  the  path  to  other  pilgrims. 

The  third  object  of  continuod  probation  is  that  it  may  have 
the  opportunity  to  become  a  co-worker  with  Christ — suffering 
and  sacrificino;  with  him,  and  devotino;  its  life  in  all  active  and 
earnest  lal)ors  for  the  world's  salvation  to  wliicli  he  devoted  his 
life,  even  unto  death. 

All  of  which  is  summed  up  in  the  general  statement  tliat 
the  object  of  continued  probation  is  that  the  soul  may  attain  to 
fixedness  of  character  by  its  own  free  choice  ;  that  it  may  be 
perfected  and  forever  established  in  holiness  ;  that,  rooted  and 
grounded  in  faith,  which  is  another  name  for  loyalty,  it  may  be 
prepared  for  all  the  unknown  incidents  and  exigencies  of  its 
immortal  existence,  and  be  thoroughly  fitted  for  "  the  inheritance 
of  the  saints  in  light" — the  eternal  companionship  of  God  and 
the  participation  of  his  glory. 

The  further  experiences  of  the  soul  after  regeneration  must 
be  interpreted  from  the  ends  here  indicated,  and  the  philosophy 
of  them  will  be  found  in  their  adaptation  to  the  ends  which 
they  serve. 

It  is  pefectly  obvious  that  the  objects  proposed  by  prolonged 
probation  are  such  as  are  vital  to  the  soul  itself,  and  such  as 
are  vital  to  the  interests  of  the  kingdom  of  God  upon  the  earth. 
The  soul  itself  needs  the  prolonged  probation  and  cannot  be 


PHILOSOPHY  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE.  129 

brought  to  its  final  destiny  without  it ;  and  the  divine  kingdom 
needs  it  and  cannot  be  built  without  it.  It  is  conceivable  that 
a  soul  just  purged  of  guilt  and  regenerated  by  the  Holy  Ghost 
might  be  instantaneously  transferred  to  heaven,  and  it  is  not 
impossible  that  instances  of  the  kind  have  occurred,  but  it  is 
not  God's  ordinary  mctliod  of  procedure,  and  for  the  reasons 
above  named. 

Were  it  the  ordinary  method  tliere  could  be  no  Church  of 
God  upon  earth,  and  the  means  of  carrying  forward  the  divine 
kingdom,  so  far  as  is  apparent,  could  not  exist.  God  employs 
not  merely  the  atonement,  and  the  gospel  of  salvation  and  the 
agency  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  but  also  regenerated  men,  in  the  sal- 
vation of  men.  Were  it  his  method  to  remove  regenerate 
men  immediately  on  their  regeneration  there  would  then  be  no 
salt  in  the  earth — there  would  be  no  regenerate  men  to  remove. 

Being  men,  it  is  impossible  that  they  should  be  left  here 
among  men  and  not  themselves  be  still  on  probation.  Thus 
the  divine  economy  with  relation  to  the  race  involves  probation 
prolonged,  for  a  period  longer  or  shorter  as  seen  best  by  infinite 
wisdom  and  grace,  after  the  grace  of  life  has  been  imparted  to 
the  soul.  These  facts  explain  the  divine  economy  for  the  con- 
tinued probation  of  Christian  souls.  Of  the  fact  there  is  no 
question.    The  existence  of  Christians  on  the  earth  is  proof  of  it. 

It  is  implied  in  the  statement  above  that  souls  are  not  per- 
fected in  receiving  the  grace  of  forgiveness  and  regeneration  ; 
that,  great  as  are  the  benefits  bestowed  in  that  experience,  there 
are  still  remaining  experiences  to  be  wrought  out  in  it  during 
its  prolonged  probation,  as  well  as  ends  to  be  accomplished  by 
it.  This  is  a  point  around  which  much  needless  confusion  has 
grown.     It  needs  careful  statement. 

Keeping  in  mind  the  fact  that  we  are  not  essaying  a  theo- 
logical or  creed  statement  of  Christian  experience,  but  simply 


130  niFLOSOPUY  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE. 

a  statement  of  the  facts,  and  a  rational  explanation  of  them,  as 
of  any  other  spiritual  phenomena,  we  are  ready  to  proceed. 

Our  present  inquiry  is  as  to  the  phenomena  which  emerge  in 
experience,  during  ])rolonged  probation,  subsequent  to  the  im- 
planting of  the  divine  life  in  the  soul.  It  will  help  us  in  our 
further  inquiries  if  we  cast  about  for  a  moment  to  determine 
the  exact  status  we  have  reached.  This  will  furnish  the  data 
for  fui'ther  progress. 

We  liave  before  us  by  supposition  a  human  soul  that  has  just 
becom.e  the  recipient  of  forgiveness  and  the  implanting  in  it  of 
the  divine  life  by  the  Holy  Ghost.  In  preceding  investiga- 
tions we  traced  the  process  by  which  the  soul  was  brought  into 
its  present  state,  and  determined  the  meaning  of  the  terms 
forgiveness  and  regeneration,  wliich  describe  its  present  state. 
It  is  not  necessary  that  we  refer  to  these  matters  again.  Our 
present  inquiry  has  to  do  witli  the  circumstances  in  which  it 
finds  itself  now  placed.  The  circumstances  will  be  influential 
in  determining  its  future  experience,  and  must  be  noted  in  order 
to  explain  them. 

The  general  fact  is,  that  thougli  the  soul  has  been,  by  its 
recent  experience,  naturalized  in  tlie  divine  kingdom,  so  as  to 
become  a  citizen  and  prospective  heir  of  all  the  emoluments  of 
citizenship,  it  is  not  yet  in  heaven. 

The  particular  facts  are  :  First,  it  is  the  same  soul  it  was  prior 
to  its  naturalization.  It  is  important  that  we  should  emphasize 
this.  It  is  not  another  soul.  Nothing  has  been  added  to  its 
prior  self-essence,  and  nothing  has  been  removed  from  its  prior 
self-essence.  All  its  old  faculties  and  susceptibilities  remain 
and  no  new  ones  have  been  added.     In  these  respects  it  does 


PRILOSOPHY  OF  CHRISTIAN'  EXPERIENCE.  131 

not  differ  from  its  former  self.  The  change  that  has  taken 
place  in  it  is  simplj  a  change  as  to  the  objects  of  its  affections 
and  the  determinations  of  its  will.  These  changes  change  its 
ethical  quality  and  its  relations.  In  these  respects  and  in  no 
other  it  is  a  new  soul.  The  chano-e  is  a  radical  cliano;e — a  com- 
plete  revolution ;  but  it  is  one  of  etliical  quality  and  rela- 
tions, not  of  substance.  It  is  the  same  soul  that  carries  itself 
over  into  the  new  experience.  There  is  an  identity  of  the  soul 
which  holds  from  the  dawn  of  existence  to  utmost  immortality. 
There  is  an  ethical  quality  of  the  soul  determined  by  its  volun- 
tary relations  to  its  law,  which  may  vary  from  deepest  guilt  of 
sin  to  highest  perfection  of  holiness,  and  which  may  at  any 
time  during  probation  change,  either  in  degree  or  radically. 
This  soul  standing  before  us  as  just  forgiven  and  I'egenerated 
has  become  ethically  different  from  its  former  self — transformed. 
To  prevent  misapprehension  of  the  phrase,  "  There  is  an  ethical 
quality  of  the  soul  determined  by  its  volitional  relations  to  its 
law,  which  may  vary  from  dee])est  guilt  to  highest  holiness,"  I 
add  that  the  soul  cannot  by  mere  volition  change  itself  from  a 
quality  of  guilt  to  a  quality  of  holiness,  though  it  may  change 
itself  from  a  quality  of  lioliness  to  a  quality  of  guilt.  Only 
God  can  purge  the  soul  of  guilt ;  only  God  can  implant  holi- 
ness ;  but  God  can  do  neither  of  these  without  the  free  coaction 
of  the  human  will ;  and  that  which  gives  ethical  quality  to  the 
soul  is  found  in  its  own  act  of  will.  "We  do  not  enter  upon 
the  polemic  involved.  The  point  we  desire  to  hold  distinctly 
before  your  minds  is  this :  That  the  soul  newly  forgiven  and 
regenerated  is  the  identical  soul  that,  prior  to  that,  was  guilty, 
and  dead  in  trespasses  and  in  sins. 

It  ought  to  be  added  that  it  is  not  only  the  same  soul,  de- 
livered from  foi-mer  guilt,  with  a  new  ideal  born  within  it  and 


132  PHILOSOPHY  OF  CHPJSTIAN  EXPERIENCE. 

a  new  principle  of  life  implanted — that  is,  a  new  governing 
motive  and  a  new  energizing  toward  righteousness — but,  further, 
that  it  is  a  soul  open  to  the  same  influences  of  evil  which  formerly 
prevailed  with  it  and,  additionally,  still  affected  by  the  power  of 
early  dominant  liabit  of  evil.  These  are  undoubted  facts ;  and 
must  be  taken  note  of  in  accounting  for  its  future  experiences. 
But  yet,  more  than  that,  it  must  be  taken  into  the  account  that 
it  is  a  soul  whose  knowledge  is  limited ;  whose  intelligence  is 
small ;  whose  natural  temper  is  irascible ;  whose  will  is  weak ; 
whose  conscience  is  often  warped  by  error — simply  the  soul  of 
a  man  of  common  mold — not  the  spirit  of  an  angel. 

It  should  still  be  further  added  that  it  is  a  soul  that  has  been 
maimed  by  sin ;  whose  tone  has  been  lowered  by  familiarity 
with  vice ;  many  times  a  soul  that  has  been  the  prey  of  unbri- 
dled appetites  and  debauched  by  gross  immoralities,  until  its 
conscience  has  become  clouded  and  its  ethical  ideas  confused ; 
in  which  long-continued  habits  of  evil — evils  of  thought,  evils 
of  desire,  evils  of  feeling,  evils  of  practice — have  had  undis- 
puted sway.  Who  can  measure  the  power  of  liabit  ?  Who  can 
measure  the  power  of  indulged  appetite  ?  Stronger  than  withes 
and  gyves  of  iron.  To  understand  the  after  history  of  this  soul 
into  which  a  new  constructive  life  has  been  introduced  all  these 
things  must  be  taken  into  the  account.  They  cannot  fail  to 
affect  and  color  its  future  experience.  The  new  constructive 
life  has  to  contend  with  all  these  subjective  conditions.  It  must 
meet  and  master  these  mighty  forces.  It  must  reduce  this 
anarchy  to  order.  Out  of  these  ruins  of  sin  it  must  rear  a 
shapely  temple  of  righteousness. 

I  note  yet  further  that  in  this  newly  regenerate  soul  there  is 
still  remaining  a  life  toward  the  flesh  and  toward  the  world. 


PHILOSOPHY  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE.  133 

The  new  life  that  has  come  to  it  has  not  wholly  destroyed  its 
old  life,  and  never  will  while  it  remains  in  the  body  and  on 
earth.  The  old  life  of  sin  has  been  removed  and  the  new  life 
of  righteousness  lias  been  implanted;  but  the  soul  has  a  life 
toward  the  flesh  and  toward  the  world  whicli  is  of  its  original 
constitution,  and  is  in  no  sense  sinful  in  itself.  Whatever  be- 
longs to  the  original  constitution  of  the  soul  is  of  divine  origin 
and  accords  with  the  divine  will.  It  is  abuse  which  constitutes 
sin.  Any  abnormalcy  whicli  results  from  sin  creates  a  demand 
for  cure.  The  tendencies  to  the  flesh  and  the  world  in  the  un- 
reo^enerate  soul'  are  excessive  and  unrejj'nlatedand  dominant,  and 
show  soul -depravity.  The  new-born  regenerate  life  does  not 
remove  the  tendency,  but  regulates  it  and  brings  it  under  the 
law  of  righteousness. 

Once  more,  and  more  explicitly,  this  regenerate  soul  is  still  a 
temptable  soul ;.  with  the  perilous  power  to  yield  to  temptation. 
Every  avenue  of  evil  is  left  open  to  it.  Every  power  of  evil 
may  assail  it.     Any  moment  it  may  yield. 

There  is  another  point  which  I  think  it  important  to  men- 
tion here ;  it  is  this :  any  ethical  state  of  any  finite  being 
undergoing  probation  is  for  the  present  moment  only.  The 
state  of  justilication,  or,  as  Bushnell  very  properly  calls  it,  the 
righteousing,  upon  which  a  soul  enters  by  forgiveness  and 
regeneration,  is  momentary,  and  if  it  abides  it  must  be  moment 
by  moment.  This  arises  from  the  fact  that  we  ourselves  exist 
moment  by  moment,  and  never  are  except  as  we  are  in  the 
passing  moment.  Our  righteousness,  therefore,  must  be  re-af- 
firmed every  moment.  As  our  righteousness  is  by  faith  at  first, 
60  it  continues  to  be  by  faith.  For  our  righteousness  to  abide 
faith  must  be  a  continuous  act.     It  is  for  this  reason  that  the 


134  PUILOSOPHT  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE. 

righteous  are  said  to  live  l)j  faith.  Faitli  is  the  well  spring  of 
their  righteousness ;  cut  off  the  fountain  and  the  stream  dries 
up.  We  are  not  made  righteous  once  for  all,  but  we  must  be 
renewed  in  righteousness  continuously. 

This  I  affirm,  and  deem  it  an  important  point.  The  ethical 
and  spiritual  state  of  any  soul  is  not  determined  by  what  it 
was,  but  by  what  it  is  at  the  sharper  than  a  needle  point  called 
"  now."  If  maintained,  and  carried  forward,  it  must  be  by  con- 
secutive re-affirmation  both  on  God's  part  and  the  soul's  part. 
There  is  and  can  be  no  necessary  connection  between  the  past 
and  the  present,  or  between  the  present  and  the  to-morrow  of 
the  soul's  ethical  state.  The  soul  carries  its  own  existence 
through  all  the  passing  nows,  and  each  now  w'ill  coine  into  the 
judgment.  Pardon  in  any  now  carries  with  it  pardon  for 
every  antecedent  now.  If  from  any  moment  when  it  is  par- 
doned the  soul  remains  ahsolutely  loyal,  and  its  faith  be  constant 
and  perfect,  from  that  moment  it  is  a  sinless  soul,  each  now 
from  the  moment  of  pardon  having  been  without  sin.  But  this 
is  an  experience  to  which,  it  is  safe  to  affirm,  but  few  souls  of 
men  ever  attain  in  this  life. 

The  second  fact  I  deem  it  important  to  note,  in  order 
to  the  explanation  of  subsequent  experiences,  is,  the  soul, 
new-born,  is  left  to  reside  in  its  old  body  unchanged. 
There  is  not  a  particle  of  change  effected  in  the  body  by  the 
regeneration  of  the  soul.  All  the  change  is  wrought  in  the 
soul  itself.  No  ethical  quality  is  predicable  of  the  body  or 
any  thing  that  the  body  does  or  feels.  The  ethic  is  in  the 
soul,  but  the  ethic  of  the  soul  is  in  many  ways  affected  by 
its  relations  to  the  body.  The  body  must  be  taken  into  the 
account  in  explaining  spiritual  experiences,  and  it  is  not,  there- 
fore, without  significance  that  the  soul,  after  regeneration,  is 


rniLOSOPHY  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE.  135 

left  with  its  old  companion,  the  body,  unchanged.     The  state 
of  the  body  affects  the  state  of  the  soul. 

The  third  point  I  note  is  this :  the  soul  after  its  regeneration 
is  left  in  the  same  world  in  which  it  lived  before.  By  the 
same  world  we  do  not  mean  simply  the  same  earthly  habitation, 
but  the  same  environments  of  all  kinds.  It  is  not  separated, 
and  cannot  be,  from  men  and  institutions  and  pursuits  which 
pertain  to  the  earth,  or  from  the  contact  and  natural  power  of 
association,  example,  prevalent  ideas,  and  practices  of  its  fel- 
lows. It  is  left  here  to  live  the  common  life  of  humanity.  To 
escape  the  contact  of  evil,  it  is  not  ])ermitted  to  retire  from  tlie 
world  and  live  the  life  of  a  recluse  or  hermit.  No  provision 
of  this  kind  is  made  for  the  protection  of  its  new  born  sanctity. 
It  must  go  down  into  the  arena  and  fight  with  the  beasts.  Not 
even  the  devils  are  kept  aloof  from  it. 

The  fourth  point  I  note  is,  this  new-born  soul,  at  the  thresh- 
old of  its  new  life,  is  beleaguered  by  malign  and  hostile  forces 
interested  to  destroy  its  new  life — to  strangle  it  in  its  bii'th. 
It  has  not  simply  to  encounter  the  difficulty  of  reconstructing 
character  under  the  adverse  influences  of  its  own  subjective  evil 
habits  and  those  which  spring  from  the  physical  nature  in  which 
it  is  incarcerated,  and  from  the  current  of  the  world,  which  sets 
against  it,  but  must  contend  with  organized  powers  of  evil  com- 
bined against  all  righteousness.  I  do  not  enter  the  polemic  of 
a  personal  devil,  or  of  Milton's  dream  of  mighty  hosts  "  who 
throng  the  air  and  darken  heaven."  Let  those  who  can  doubt. 
Whether  or  not  there  are  unincarnate  emissaries  of  evil,  none 
can  question  that  there  is  an  incarnate  kingdom  of  evil,  intent 
on  the  ruin  of  souls  and  scheming  the  destruction  of  all  right- 
eousness. 


136  PHILOSOPHY  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE. 

I  note,  as  a  lif tli  fact,  that  the  regenerate  soal  is  still  held 
strictly  under  the  law  of  righteousness.  The  grace  which, 
through  the  atonement  and  by  faitli,  has  secured  to  it  forgive- 
ness for  sins  that  are  past  does  not  modifj'  or  change  its  rela- 
tions to  innnutable  ethical  law.  There  is  no  place  for  antinoniian- 
ism  in  the  scheme  of  human  salvation.  To  its  utmost  demand 
the  law  is  forever  binding  upon  the  forgiven  as  much  as  upon 
the  unforgiven  soul.  The  pardon  act  is  retrospective  and  is 
not  a  release  from  obligation  for  the  future.  I  emphasize  this 
fact  also,  as  one  of  great  importance,  and  which  must  be  taken 
into  tlie  account  in  rendering  a  philosophy  of  the  experience 
in  prolonged  probation  of  a  regenerated  soul.  The  new  filial 
relation  that  has  come  to  it  does  not  release  it  from  or  in  any 
way  diminish  its  obligations  to  the  law  of  righteousness.  That 
law  holds  over  it  with  unabated  force.  It  must  do  the  will  of 
God,  resisting  all  evil  and  fullilling  all  righteousness.  Nothing 
either  in  the  provisions  of  the  atonement  or  in  its  forgiveness 
of  past  sins  removes  from  it  an  iota  of  its  obligations  to  this 
law.  It  is  matter  of  experience  that  every  regenerate  soul  feels 
this  obligation.  It  is  an  ethical  necessity  that  it  should  be  so  ; 
otherwise  the  atonement,  which  was  made  for  life,  would  work 
death,  and  forgiveness  and  regeneration  would  work  all  manner 
of  unrighteousness.  It  is  impossible  tliat  any  thing  God  does 
for  the  soul  should  emancipate  it  from  the  obligations  of  right- 
eousness without  introducing  anarchy  into  the  moral  system. 
He  may,  as  we  have  seen,  on  conditions  which  conserve  right- 
eousness, forgive,  and  only  on  such  conditions ;  but  lie  has  no 
power  to  release  a  moral  being  from  the  obligation  without 
liimself  thereby  becoming  the  patron  of  unrighteousness,  and 
so  vitiating  his  own  holiness.  Every  spirit  in  the  universe 
nmst  forever  be  answerable  to  that  law,  and  the  throne  of  eter- 
nal holiness  must  forever  preserve  and  enforce  that  law  in  full 


PHILOSOniY  OF  CHRISTIAN'  EXPERIENCE.  137 

and  unabated  vigor.  The  safety  of  the  moral  system  depends 
on  this  principle.  Sap  it  and  the  moral  system  falls  into 
anarchy.  The  law  of  God  marks  out  a  narrow  path,  and  the 
grace  of  God  does  not  widen  it. 

The  sixth  fact  which  I  deem  it  important  to  state  is,  there  is 
a  divine  kingdom,  organized  of  God,  established  in  the  earth, 
and  composed  of  regenerate  souls.  Of  this  kingdom,  by  its 
regeneration,  the  new-born  soul  has  now  become  a  member. 
It  has  its  duties,  its  helps,  and  its  fellowships — all  of  which  are 
for  him.  It  has  its  Bible  for  his  guide,  its  God-ordained  min- 
ister for  his  instruction  and  shepherding,  its  Sabbath  for  his  rest 
and  worship,  its  sacraments  for  his  obocrvance,  its  appointed 
services  for  his  comfort  and  upbuilding  in  faith,  its  fellowship 
meetings  for  mutual  prayer  and  experience,  its  organized  plans 
of  Christian  work  for  his  sympathy  and  co-operation.  It  is  his 
spiritual  home ;  the  birthplace  of  his  soul.  Its  members  are  his 
brothers  and  sisters.  Wlierever  he  goes  in  all  the  earth  tliis 
household  of  faith  lias  an  open  door  for  him.  But  it  does  not 
exist  for  his  delectation  alone.  It  has  no  provision  for  drones. 
It  opens  opportunity  for  useful  work  to  each  of  its  members 
and  imposes  obligations  upon  them.  It  demands  purity, 
loyalt}^,  earnestness,  and  dilligence. 

It  is  manifest  that  the  manner  in  which  this  new-born  soul 
shall  deport  itself  in  the  house  of  God,  the  use  it  shall  make  of 
it,  its  improvement  of  its  privileges,  its  fidelity  to  its  obliga- 
tions, will  determine  what  its  experience  will  be. 

I  notice  a  further  and  final  fact,  going  into  the  status  reached 
by  regeneration,  which  must  be  taken  into  the  account  in 
explaining  the  future  experiences  of  this  just- forgiven  and 
regenerated  soul ;  that  further  fact  is,  it  is  a  soul  in  which  God 


138  nilLOSOPHY  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE. 

lias  not  only  wronglit  a  work,  but  in  which  God  is  deeply  inter- 
ested, and  in  which  he  has  taken  up  his  residence.  It  is  not  a 
soul  left  to  itself  to  figlit  its  own  battles.  Its  implanted  life  is 
divine.  Were  it  dissevered  from  its  source  it  would  perish  in 
a  day.  All  the  powers  of  i-ighteousness  are  in  God  and  from 
God.  Separated  from  the  fountain,  it  is  safe  to  say,  no  angel 
could  stand,  muc]!  less  the  soul  of  man,  weakened  in  all  its 
I^owers  and  beleaguered  with  evil.  ~\Ve  emphasize  it,  therefore, 
as  matter  of  importance  to  be  taken  into  the  account,  that  God 
is  with  and  in  his  new-born  child,  and  all  his  almighty  power  is 
guaranteed  for  his  support,  if  he  will. 

We  attach  importance  to  the  phrase,  if  he  will.  It  is  a  free 
soul,  which,  M'liile  it  has  no  jiower,  left  to  itself,  to  overcome 
evil,  has  power  to  avail  itself  of  Almighty  power  or  to  dissever 
itself.  But  that  which  I  wish  to  emphasize  is  that  it  has  God 
with  it,  and  may  command  his  help  at  any  moment.  This  is 
its  refuge,  into  which  it  may  run  and  hide,  and  within  whose 
cover  it  is  safe.  This,  I  affirm,  is  matter  of  experience,  not 
mere  doctrine  or  theory.  It  pertains  to  the  philosophy  of  pro- 
bationary history  that  it  should  be  recognized.  Without  it  no 
soul  could  escape  from  the  dominion  of  sin,  and  work  its  way 
through  an  earthly  life  to  everlasting  blessedness.  Without  it 
there  could  be  no  justification  of  God  in  placing  man  in  his 
earthly  environments.  Without  it  probation  would  be  an 
empty  name — a  tragedy  of  farce. 

JSTow,  with  these  facts  before  us  w^e  are  prepared  to  consider 
the  further  experiences  of  a  regenerate  soul.  These  facts  are 
so  conditionary  that  they  imply  very  much  what  the  experi- 
ences will  be.  Our  business  is  to  inquire  what  they  are,  what 
they  possibly  may  be,  and  what  they  ought  to  be. 

It  will  aid  in  the  examination  of  these  points  if  we  can  place 


PHILOSOPUY  OF  CHRISTIAN'  EXPERIENCE.  139 

distinctly  before  our  minds  an  ideally  perfect  standard  to  which 
to  compare  attainments.  The  standard  is  the  ideally  perfect. 
The  aim  of  grace  is  to  raise  the  soul  as  nearly  as  possible  to  the 
realization  of  the  ideal.  The  demand  on  the  regenerate  soul  is 
that  it  endeavor  constantly  after  the  nearest  approximation  pos- 
sible to  it.  Of  these  three  points  we  think  there  can  be  no 
doubt. 

The  difference  between  tlie  actual  state  of  the  soul's  experi- 
ence and  the  state  possible  to  be  attained  or  to  have  been  at- 
tained will  point  out  the  defects  of  experience  or  state  of  the 
soul  which  will  demand  improvement.  The  possible  is  re- 
quired, and  only  the  possible.  Defect,  as  compared  with  the 
possible,  not  with  the  ideal,  is  moral  defect,  and  demands  iin- 
jjroveincnt. 

Now,  what  is  the  ideal  standard  for  a  finite  soul  posited  as 
man  is  ?  The  standard  in  God  is  absolute — changeless  and  in- 
finite ethical  perfection.  That  is  not  the  standard  for  any  cre- 
ated being,  because  to  such  perfection  the  finite  can  make  no 
approacli.  That  can  be  no  standard  which  cannot  be  ap- 
proached. 

The  ideal  of  a  jperfect  man.  Man  is  a  sonl.  The  experience 
is,  therefore,  that  of  a  soul  comprising  intellect,  sensibilities, 
and  will — sensibilities  including  the  entire  emotive  nature,  de- 
sires, affections,  sensitivities  passions,  and  appetites.  An  ethic- 
ally perfect  sonl  is  one  which  perfectly  knows  its  law  and 
perfectly  obeys  it — a  soul  Avhose  inteilect  unerringly  discerns 
between  things  which  ought  to  be  and  those  which  ought  not 
to  be ;  a  soul  delicately  sensitive  to  slightest  ap^^roach  of  evil 
or  wrong  ;  a  Goul  whose  affections  are  so  regulated  that  only 
those  things  are  loved  which  ought  to  be  loved  and  whose  de- 
sires  do  not  covet  things  that  are  discerned  to  be  wrong ;  a  soul 


140  PniLO SOPHY  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE. 

that  supremely  loves  God  and  revolts  at  whatever  would  dis- 
please him ;  a  soul  rightly  affected  toward  the  welfare  of  all 
other  sentient  existence  and  loving  other  souls  as  it  loves  itself  ; 
a  soul  whose  will  is  unfalteringly  determined  to  all  righteous- 
ness and  against  all  unrighteousness  ;  a  soul  that  with  eager  de- 
light chooses  both  to  do  and  suffer  all  that  it  ought  to  do  and 
suffer  and  prom])tly  refuses  to  do  every  thing  that  it  ought  not 
to  do  every  moment  of  its  existence,  with  perfect  freedom  and 
with  full  consciousness  of  power  to  the  opposite  and  in  the 
presence  of  all  jDossible  temptations  to  the  opposite. 

It  is  perfectly  obvious  that  this  ideal  has  never  been  reached 
by  any  but  one  man  on  the  earth.  It  was  reached  by  Jesus  of 
Nazareth.  This  fact  places  him  forever  unapproachably  out  of 
the  category  of  merely  human  souls.  It  is  also  perfectly  obvi- 
ous that  if  ultimate  salvation  depended  upon  the  realization  of 
this  ideal  no  child  of  man  could  ever  l)o  saved.  It  follows  that 
the  impossible  ideal  is  not  what  is  required  by  the  eternal  eth- 
ical law.  That  which  is  required  of  the  human  soul  is  the 
nearest  approach  possible.  That  is  required,  and  any  failure 
marks  not  only  defect  but  in  some  sense  culpable  defect, 
which,  to  free  us  from  its  consequences,  will  require  the  contin- 
uous compassionate  treatmerit  which  infirmity  must  always  lay 
under  tribute. 

The  standard  of  privilege  and  of  duty  laid  upon  the  soul,  if 
not  to  reach  this  ideal  of  a  perfect  man,  because  for  some  rea- 
son it  is  impossible,  is  that  the  soul  should  make  the  utmost 
effort  to  do  so — is  that  it  should  approach  it  as  nearly  as  possi- 
ble ;  possible  not  to  itself  alone  by  its  own  unaided  power,  but 
as  nearly  as  possible  M'ith  all  available  helps  at  its  command. 
This  is  the  ethical  law  that  is  binding,  and  comparison  with 
which  determines  the  degree  of  its  moral  perfection  or  imper- 
fection— approvableness  or  unapprovableness  to  God. 


PHILOSOPHY  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE.  141 

Now,  with  tliis  standard  of  ideal  perfection  and  with  this 
standard  of  duty,  let  us  proceed  to  determine  what  are  the 
actual  facts  of  Christian  experience.  We  desii-e  as  nearly  as 
possible  in  the  statement  which  follows  to  be  trne  to  facts  M'ith- 
out  prejudice  or  partiality.  The  ol)ject  is  to  describe  Chris- 
tians as  they  show  themselves;  as  we,  being  one  of  them,  have 
known  them  for  sixty  years.  Two  extremes  must  be  avoided 
— the  extremes  of  under  and  of  overestimating  them.  There 
is  such  a  correlation  between  subjective  states  and  external 
manifestation  that  the  latter  is  a  fair  interpreter  of  the  former. 
A  man  is  generally  internally  approximately  what  he  habitu- 
ally shows  externally.  The  tree  is,  and  must  be,  judged  by 
its  fruits.  The  law  of  interpretation  applies  to  all,  and  as  it 
is  a  test  furnished  by  our  Lord  we  may  not  shrink  from  it. 

Taking^  this  rule,  we  affirm  that  there  is  a  radical  difference 
between  ChristJan  and  unchristian  souls.  Unsatisfactory  as  the 
account  we  must  give  of  ourselves  may  be,  it  will  nevertheless 
show  that  fact.  There  is  a  regenerate  family  on  the  earth,  and 
it  ehows  its  divine  lineaments,  though  'often  sadly  blurred  ;  but 
the  faults  of  Christians  are  habitually  greatly  exaggerated. 
The  diabolical  lie  is  persistently  affirmed,  by  enemies  and  mor- 
bid fanatics,  that  Christians  are  no  better  than  others.  A  gross 
immorality  which  some  professed  Christian  commits  is  trump- 
eted as  proof,  when  the  fact  that  it  is  seized  upon  and  bruited 
is  proof  of  the  very  opposite — that  it  is  the  exception  ;  which 
proves  that  the  rule  is  the  other  way. 

The  fact  is  that  among  the  millions  called  Christians  there 
are  some  hypocrites,  and  that  some  who  were  real  Christians 
fall  away  into  gross  sins,  and  that  it  is  so  is  what  is  to  be  ex- 
pected. The  hypocrite  never  did  belong  to  the  family.  His 
proper  place  was  outside,  not  inside,  the  fold.  His  hypocrisy 
simply  shows  that  he  was  not  properly  classified,  not  proof  that 


142  PHILOSOPHY  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE. 

Christians  are  hypocrites.  Tlie  apostate  ceases  to  be  a  Chris- 
tian. The  Church  on  the  discovery  of  the  fact  spews  them 
both  out  as  soon  as  tlie  facts  are  discovered. 

What  is  true  of  evangelical  churches  of  all  denominations  is 
that  their  communicants,  while  far  from  perfect,  and  while 
many  of  them  give  but  little  proof  of  regenerate  life,  are  in 
heart  and  life  characteristically,  morally,  and  spiritually  as  dif- 
ferentiable  from  the  unregenerate  mass  of  men  as  day  is  from 
night.  What  Christian  Church  tolerates  rogues,  and  harlots, 
and  drunkards,  and  rum-sellers,  and  profane  persons,  and  dis- 
solute persons,  or  those  guilty  of  any  known  immoralities? 
No  ;  it  is  a  defamation  that  the  visible  Church  of  God,  even,  is 
not  distinguishable  from  the  unbelieving  world.  Her  altars  are 
comparatively  pure  and  her  homes  unsoiled.  I  have  been  inti- 
mately acquainted  with  the  Church  of  all  names,  and  carefully 
observant  of  her  members  in  all  parts  of  the  world,  for  fifty 
years,  and  among  the  hundreds  of  thousands  of  whom  I  have 
had  fair  knowledge  not  a  thousand  have  been  detected  in  im- 
moral practices,  and  such  have  been  expelled  upon  detection. 
That  discipline  is  often  too  low  is  not  disputed ;  but  that  even 
is  not  so  of  immoralities  but  of  minor  practices,  and  faults 
about  which  there  is  difference  of  judgment  as  to  how  they 
should  be  dealt  with  lest  too  great  rigor  might  destroy  the 
wheat  with  the  tares.  The  aim  of  the  Church  in  the  matter  of 
a  ruling  purpose  is  that  its  members  sliould  be  blameless, 
should  abstain  from  all  known  sin,  and  love  and  revere  God 
constantly  and  perfectly.  In  these  fundamental  aspects  it  is 
a  comparatively  holy  Church.  Its  ministers  are  pure  men  ; 
its  influence  is  for  righteousness  ;  its  services  are  divine  ;  it 
stands  as  the  breakwater  against  the  incoming  floods  of  sin  ;  it 
stands  for  God  and  with  God  ;  it  is  the  only  organized  power  on 
earth  that  seeks  to  suppress  all  wrong  and  to  recover  men  from 


PniLOSOPHT  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE.  143 

the  corruptions  which  destroy  them.  All  this  it  does  firmly, 
persistently,  and  with  singleness  of  aim,  at  expense  of  labor  and 
sacrifice.  What  of  redeeming  agency  there  is  for  the  world,  what 
thei'e  is  for  tlie  betterment  of  mankind,  flows  from  beneath 
lier  altars.  To  decry  her  and  exaggerate  her  faults  is  to  be- 
grime and  cripple  the  only  organized  agency  on  earth  which 
supports  the  sinking  hopes  of  mankind.  So  much  mustbe  kept 
in  mind  while  we  deal  faithfully  with  the  defects  of  Christians. 

Christians  are  not  perfect.  This  is  a  general  fact  of  all 
Christians.  Let  us  bravely  look  at  the  facts  as  tlie3'  are  pain- 
fully known  to  ourselves  and  as  they  appear  in  the  light  of  a 
perfect  standard.  Christiaiis  are  men.  They  are  quarried 
from  the  common  rock.  In  estimating  them  it  nuist  be  remem- 
l)ered  what  they  were — their  blood  and  stock,  and  enviroments. 
There  is  marked  diversity  among  Christians  at  the  dawn  of  the 
divine  consciousness  and  all  the  way  along  their  after  career. 
Some  enter  upon  the  Christian  life  with  a  clear  and  exultant 
experience,  some  with  the  simple  consciousness  of  a  desire  and 
purpose  to  be  Christians.  This  notes  a  great  difference  at  the  start. 
Some  have  an  intelligent  understanding  of  what  their  new  life 
requires.  Some  have  but  a  confused  idea,  with  a  strong  im- 
pulse. There  is  difference  of  temperament,  difference  of  intel- 
ligence, difference  of  personal  habits  in  all  respects.  These 
facts  inevitably  carry  over  and  result  in  different  types  of  char- 
acter and  expression  throughout  life.  Nature  determines  these 
diversities.  In  the  spiritual,  as  in  the  natural,  world  there  are 
occasional  lusus  naturce — monstrosities. 

Circumstances  are  influential,  also — peculiarities  of  the  people 
with  whom  the  new-born  soul  finds  itself  associated  ;  peculiarities 
of  the  sect  notions  and  habits  where  its  lot  is  cast ;  peculiarities 
of  the  pabulum  on  which  it  is  fed  ;  peculiarities  of  the  ministry 

■    10 


144  PHILOSOPHY  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE. 

under  which  it  is  trained,  the  ideals  which  are  set  before  it,  and 
other  tilings.  There  are  general  types  which  take  on  the  denomi- 
national impress.  It  is  not  difficult  to  detect  a  Presbyterian,  an 
Episcopalian,  a  Congregationalist,  a  Baptist,  a  Methodist,  on 
slight  acquaintance.  But  under  all  these  types  and  diversities 
there  is  a  family  likeness,  and  the  general  and  cardinal  facts  of 
experience  are  identical. 

I  note,  first,  among  these  common  and  cardinal  facts  of  ex- 
perience, beginning  with  regeneration  and  holding  permanently 
throughout,  a  fixed  desire  and  determination  on  the  part  of 
professed  Christians  to  be  true  Christians — fixed,  yet  variable — 
stronger  at  one  time  than  another.  There  are  ebbs  and  flows 
in  the  spiritual  tides.  Sometimes  faith  becomes  feeble  and  love 
grows  cold,  but  they  are  not  therefore  extinguished.  Doubtless 
many  find  their  way  into  the  churches  without  any  profound 
spiritual  experience,  for  one  cause  or  another.  TJiey  cannot  be 
said  to  be  Christians  except  in  matters  of  external  conformity 
-with  more  or  less  strictness.  Many  such  have  been  taught  that 
this  is  all  that  is  necessary.  They  aspire  to  nothing  more. 
This  is  a  grievous  fault,  but  possibly  even  such  derive  some 
good  and  may  even  be  led  along  to  salvation.  But  among 
us,  however  it  may  be  with  sister  Cliurches,  there  are  but  few 
who  pass  within  the  fold  without  a  definite  understanding  that 
subjective  experience  is  required,  and  a  more  or  less  distinct 
profession  of  having  passed  through  such  an  experience.  They 
are  required  to  avow  faith  in  Christ  and  a  determination  to  lead 
a  godly  life.  With  rare  exceptions  they  abstain  from  sinful 
practices  and  give  proof  of  a  prevailingly  strong  desire  to  be 
true  disciples  of  Christ,  but  with  variability.  We  regret  to  admit 
that  the  modern  practice  of  many  popular  evangelists,  of  voting 
men  to  be  Christians  by  a  sliow  of  hands,  has  greatly  damaged 


PHILOSOPHY  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE,  145 

the  average  character  of  so-called  Christians,  Men  are  even 
asked  to  vote  themselves  in  holiness.  The  standard  of  Christian 
experience  has  been  sadly  lowered  by  this  superficial  method. 

There  is  continuity  in  Christian  experience,  and  this  is  mat- 
ter of  experience.  The  defects  which  confessedly  exist,  while 
flaws  and  faults,  do  not  wholly  break  uj)  and  abrogate  the  regen= 
erate  life.  The  will  does  not  go  over  to  unrighteousness.  The 
relation  between  the  soul  and  God  is  not  dissevered.  The 
brancli  is  not  plucked  out  of  the  vine,  and  never  can  be  until  it 
tears  itself  out  by  absolute  sin  and  the  volitional  determination 
of  itself  to  evil.  With  its  inexcusable  defects  God  is  patient 
and  long-suffering. 

Some  souls  from  the  moment  of  their  regeneration  suffer  no 
abatement.  Their  fervor  never  wanes,  their  love  never  grows 
cold.  They  go  from  strength  to  strength.  It  is  not  the  rule,  it 
must  be  confessed ;  but,  while  there  are  exceptions,  it  is  the 
rule  that  the  divine  life,  once  implanted,  abides.  With  falter- 
ing step^  it  may  be,  having  entered  U]X)n  the  Christian  course 
the  soul  pursues  it  to  the  end,  or,  falling  away  in  some  untoward 
hour  and  getting  out  of  the  fold,  is  almost  certain  to  return. 

I  note,  second,  as  a  common  fact  of  Christian  experience, 
that  tlie  ideal  varies  with  the  ebbs  and  tides  of  the  soul.  Some- 
times it  is  high,  sometimes  low ;  and  there  are  correspond- 
ing differences  in  the  external  manifestation.  Now  there  is 
joyousness,  warmth,  zeal,  earnestness,  intensity,  high  endeavor, 
strictness;  anon  there  is  lukewarmness,  lethargy,  laxity  ap- 
proaching indifference,  self-indulgence,  worldliness.  Now  the 
soul  is  borne  along  on  a  crest  of  triumph ;  now  it  is  down  in  a 
trougli  of  despondency,  weak,  irresolute,  unhappy,  discon- 
tented. Now  the  path  is  rocky  and  hard  and  the  wilderness  bar- 
ren, and  the  flesh-pots  are  tempting  and  inviting ;  again,  there  is 


146  PHILOSOPHY  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIEKGK 

music  and  dancing  and  gladness  in  all  tiie  chambers  of  the  soul ;  ft 
is  a  feast-day  in  Zion,  and  all  the  windows  are  illuminated  and  ban- 
ners flutter  along  the  walls  and  turrets.  When  the  ideal  is  high 
and  the  soul  in  its  divinest  mood  the  graces  shine  and  duty  and 
sacrifices  and  trials  are  easy ;  when  it  is  otherwise  duty  is  irk- 
some and  trials  and  sacrifices  an  intolerable  burden. 

I  note,  third,  that  dissatisfiedness  of  the  soul  with  itself  is  a 
common  experience  of  all  regenerate  souls,  varying  from  intense 
distress  at  times  to  mild  regret.  Its  experiences  are  not  satis- 
factory. It  has  a  prevailing  consciousness  of  inexcusable  de- 
fects. It  does  not  reacJi  its  ideal.  It  feels  the  chidings  of  the 
Holy  Spirit.  It  lashes  itself  with  rej)rovings.  It  often  carries  an . 
unhealed  wound  because  of  its  unfaithfulness,  orfailure  to  be  what 
it  feels  it  ouglit  to  be.  There  is  the  abiding  consciousness  that 
there  is  something  better  for  it.  When  it  is  upheld  and  sus- 
tained in  an  average  expei'ience,  and  others  think  well  of  it,  and 
there  is  no  external  failure  visible  to  otlier  eyes,  it  discerns  \w- 
ward  poverties  which  grieve  and  distress  it.  It  would  love 
more,  be  more  patient,  more  brave,  more  trusting,  more  cheer- 
ful, stronger,  more  robust ;  it  would  work  more  and  do  more  and 
be  more.  There  are  holy  yearnings  in  it  after  something  higher 
and  nobler.  There  is  often  a  distressing  sense  of  remaining  evil 
in  it.  I  think  I  am  safe  in  saying  this  is  universal  experience 
subsequent  to  the  experience  of  regeneration. 

This  has  been  called  in  our  theologizing  and  in  the  theologiz- 
ing of  all  the  Christian  schools  the  "  remains  of  the  carnal 
mind,"  "unextracted  roots  of  inbred  sin,"  "the  spirit  of  the 
flesh,"  "natural  corruption,"  "seeds  of  depravity,"  "the  oM 
man,"  and  by  various  other  semi-scriptural  names.  These 
phrases  all  point  to  a  fact,  but  not  unfrequently  a  sensuous 
meaning  is  attached  to  them  which  leads  wide  apart  from  the 


PHILOSOPHY  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE.  147 

trntli  wliicli  they  aiiri  to  represent.  They  are  supposed  to  rep- 
resent some  sediment  or  infusion  in  the  soul  or  in  tlie  .body,  or 
in  botl),  which  must  be  washed  out.  What  is  meant  and  what  is 
true  is  this :  Wlien  the  soul  is  forgiven,  and  its  affections  are 
turned  to  righteousness  and  its  will  is  determined  to  the  prac- 
tice of  righteousness,  so  that  it  passes  from  under  the  dominion 
of  evil,  impulses  and  inclination  to  evil  are  not  completely  erad- 
icated. They  still  arise  and  assert  themselves.  They  assail 
and  disturb  the  peace  of  the  soul.  They  have  a  constant  ten^ 
dency  to  prevail  with  it.  They  find  support  in  its  old  habits 
and  in  its  native  lusts — that  is,  desires  and  cravings. 

I  note,  fourth,  that  it  accords  with  Christian  experience  that 
faithfulness  keeps  perennial  sunshine  in  the  soul.  Watchful- 
ness against  the  approaches  of  evil,  a  habit  of  the  soul  of  con- 
stantly looking  to  God,  not  simply  at  critical  moments,  mo- 
ments of  trial  and  temptation,  but  at  all  times ;  scrupulous  and 
conscientious  attendance  upon  the  services  of  the  sanctuary, 
resistance  of  all  suggestions  of  wrong,  pronounced  allegiance 
to  Christ,  smooth  the  path  and  make  it  easy  and  delightful, 
while  all  attempts  at  compromise  with  questionable  ])ractices 
make  the  way  rough  and  thorny.  The  Christian  soon  learns 
that  he  cannot  travel  alone.  He  must  have  Christ  with  him. 
To  have  Christ  with  him  he  must  keep  in  the  path.  The  way 
is  strait  and  narrow — the  King's  higliway  of  holiness  through  a 
world  of  sin.  There  are  lures  and  snares  ;  he  must  avoid  them. 
If  he  will  he  may  be  great  and  strong ;  if  he  will  he  may  be 
weak  and  vacillating. 

While  there  is  a  fundamental  agreement  in  the  phenomena 
of  all  soul  regeneracy  there  is  great  and  marked  dissimilarity 
among  Christians.     One  soul  experiences  and  exhibits  marked 


148  PHILOSOPHY  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE. 

pre-eminence  of  some  one  or  several  graces,  but  no  less  marked 
defects  as  to  other  graces.  Another  sonl  reverses  the  order. 
Still  another  presents  high  or  moderate  attainments  along  the 
whole  line  of  the  graces.  The  mean  average  will  perhaps  not 
vary  much  except  in  extreme  cases  of  either  general  defective- 
ness or  general  excellencies.  May  I,  for  the  purpose  of  fur- 
nishing a  mirror  into  wliich  each  reader  may  look  and  find  some- 
thinglike himself,  present  several  illustrations:  A  is  a  man  of 
great  faith  ;  he  is  mighty  in  public  prayer;  his  soul  is  easily 
roused  to  enthusiasm  ;  but  he  is  variable  in  temper,  and,  like  a 
chameleon,  takes  the  hue  of  his  surroundings.  He  does  not  ap- 
pear to  advantage  at  the  hustings  or  in  the  market.  His  indis- 
cretions often  trouble  him.  His  best  friends  have  to  bear  with 
him  and  apologize  for  him.  B  is  a  paragon  of  discretion — never 
offends  good  taste  or  good  morals ;  is  careful  in  the  use  of  his 
tongue,  and  coldly  proper  as  an  icicle ;  but  he  is  rarely  present 
at  the  prayer-meeting,  and  his  faith  never  kindles  into  enthu- 
siasm. C  is  as  honest  as  the  heathen  Cato ;  scrupulous  to  a 
line  in  business — his  word  is  as  good  as  his  bond  ;  but  he  is  hard 
and  unsympathetic  in  his  family  ;  his  wife  has  no  spending 
money,  and  his  children  dread  his  frown.  D  flourishes  in  an 
experience-meeting  and  is  loud  for  spirituality,  punctual  to  all 
the  services,  and  zealous  for  revivals ;  but  he  is  stingy  and 
mean  in  charities,  and  leaves  others  to  defray  the  expenses.  E 
professes  holiness,  and  wants  a  holiness-meeting  once  a  week ; 
but  cares  little  for  any  thing  else  and  wears  out  his  minister 
and  sets  the  neighborhood  in  strife  by  his  uncharitable  speeches 
and  liis  selfish  and  unchristlike  spirit.  F  is  a  bigot :  a  Meth- 
odist bigot,  who  glories  in  free  grace  and  a  universal  atonement ; 
a  Baptist  bigot,  who  thinks  nobody  unimmersed  ought  to  be 
allowed  the  communion  or  can  be  saved  ;  a  Presljyterian  bigot, 
who  thinks  the  way  to  heaven  leads  through  the  Westminster 


PHILOSOPHY  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE.  149 

Confession,  and  is  not  certain  that  infants  can  be  saved,  and 
is  quite  certain  that  no  heathen  can  ;  a  Congregational  bigot, 
that  sees  no  possibility  of  grace  ontside  the  standing  order;  an 
Episcopal  bigot,  that  considers  it  a  damnable  hei'esj  not  to 
believe  in  apostolical  succession,  but  is  uncharitable  or  worldly 
or  self-indulgent. 

These  are  the  flies  that  spoil  the  ointment ;  the  spiritual 
monstrosities  that  deform  the  bride  of  Christ  and  bring  discredit 
on  his  fair  name.  No  age  has  been  without  them,  and  no 
saintliest  sect.  Many  of  the  individuals  in  these  several  genera 
without  doubt  are,  in  the  root  of  the  m.atter.  Christians ;  tliey 
mean  righteousness  and  loyalty  ;  they  have  an  experience  of 
grace ;  in  their  deepest  heart  they  love  God,  and  they  would 
not  consort  with  sinners.  They  are  simply  malformations — 
like  men  with  defective  members.  Meantime  E,  the  general 
type,  is  a  humble  follower  of  Christ.,  who  is  gentle  in  his 
manners;  kind  and  sympathetic  in  his  'spirit;  true  in  all  his 
business  relations ;  faithful  to  his  Chijrch  ;  careful  and  con- 
sistent in  his  walk  ;  generous  in  his  devisings  for  the  poor ; 
diligent  in  business,  with  an  open  hand  for  the  support  of  every 
movement  for  the  uplift  of  man  ;  but  he  makes  little  noise,  and 
rarely  speaks  of  himself.  And  F  is  a  glorious  Christian  who 
loves  God  with  all  his  heart,  and  dares  to  say  it  at  suitable 
times,  not  boastingly,  but  confidently  and  humbly ;  and  men 
believe  it  because  of  his  sublime  and  godlike  life.  lie  loves 
the  house  of  God,  and  his  seat  is  never  vacant  without  cause. 
He  bears  his  share  of  the  burdens  cheerfully ;  if  needs  be, 
more.  He  is  earnest  for  the  salvation  of  the  world  ;  prays 
for  it,  and  pays  for  it ;  holds  up  the  hands  of  his  minister  with 
encouraging  words  and  helpful  deeds  ;  has  sunshine  in  his  face 
and  in  his  soul — at  home,  in  his  place  of  business,  and  in  the 
house   of  God ;    bears    trials  with    equanimity ;    is   unselfish, 


150  PHILOSOPHY  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE. 

generous,  and  has  a  hand  and  lieart  full  of  charity.  Ko  envy 
or  jealousy  or  ill  feeling  has  a  corner  in  his  soul.  He  is  never 
a  self-inflated  troubler  of  the  church  to  which  he  belongs. 

The  course  of  Christian  experience  ought  to  be  like  "  the 
path  of  the  just,  which  shineth  more  and  more  unto  the  perfect 
day."  There  is  every  reason  why  it  should  be  so — everything 
to  inspire  it.  The  cause  he  has  espoused  and  the  experience  he 
has  had  deserve  and  demand  magnificent  manhood.  It  ought 
to  be  impossible  that  he  should  be  less  than  sublime.  Why  is 
it  that  this  result  does  not  follow  ?  Simply  the  remaining 
power  of  old  ideas  and  the  corruption  of  the  affections  and 
enslavement  of  the  will  by  them.  There  is  still  a  contest  car- 
ried on  in  the  soul  as  to  who  shall  reign.  It  tolerates  the  con- 
troversy. It  says  God  shall  reign.  It  will  not  entertain  the 
idea  of  the  dominion  of  its  old  and  now  dethroned  master;  but  it 
has  not  faith  or  courage  enough  to  determine  on  their  absolute 
expulsion.  It  is  confused  as  to  how  much  indulgence  may  be 
allowed  them.  They  make  constant  encroachments.  There  is 
schism  wdiere  there  ought  to  be  harmony.  Conscience  illumi- 
nated by  the  Holy  Spirit  says  one  thing;  desire  of  the  flesh  and 
the  world  say  another.  The  will  plays  fast  and  loose  between 
the  opposing  forces.  It  will  not  go  over  to  unrighteousness, 
but  it  will  not  decide  for  ideal  righteousness.  It  will  not  sin, 
but  it  will  dally.  It  is  determined  not  to  yield  to  temptation, 
but  it  often  makes  a  weak  resistance.  It  has  burned  the 
bridges,  but  at  times  it  half  inclines  to  rebuild  them.  It  has 
not  strength  to  push  away  from  the  borders  of  the  enemy's 
country  ;  but  sometimes  lingers  with  a  half-craving  look  to  the 
apples  of  Sodom  and  the  fleshpots  of  Egypt.  There  is  a  pull 
both  ways  in  it — with  an  occasional  inclination  to  compromise. 
It  despises  gross  sin,  but  it  courts  some  indulgence.  God 
wants  the  soul ;  he  gives  the  larger  half. 


PIULOSOPHT  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE.  151 

From  all  tin's  it  will  appear  that  average  Christian  experience 
is  not  nn alloyed.  It  is  not  the  experience  of  an  ideally  perfect 
soul.  There  are  none  such  on  earth,  and  never  will  be.  That 
estate  belongs  to  the  world  to  w^iich  Ciiristian  experience  leads. 
It  is  the  experience  of  an  exile  far  from  home  with  an  inter- 
vening wilderness  to  pass  ;  of  a  soul  beleaguered  by  foes  ;  of  a 
soul  in  the  furnace  of  trial ;  of  a  soul  on  the  field  of  battle.  It 
is  not  a  perfectly  happy  experience.  The  actual  experience  has 
its  oriefs  and  sorrows  and  heart-aches — its  defeats  with  its  vie- 
tories.  But  its  griefs  are  better  than  the  joys  of  sin  ;  it  is 
better  to  suffer  affliction  with  the  people  of  God,  if  heed  be,  than 
to  enjoy  the  pleasures  of  sin  for  a  season.  It  is  better  to  lie 
wounded,  and  even  to  die,  wrapped  in  a  flag  of  loyalty  than  to 
ride  in  a  chariot  witli  the  brand  of  treason.  There  is  happiness 
in  the  pursuit  and  aspirations  after  righteousness,  despite  all 
the  trials,  wliich  must  forever  be  unknown  to  souls  under  the 
bondage  of  sin.  This  happiness  comes  to  every  sincere  soul,  in 
the  conscious  peace  and  safety  of  a  life  of  faith — "  the  peace  of 
God  that  passeth  understanding." 

But  is  there  not  something  better  for  the  Christian  soul  than 
the  defective  experience  I  have  described  ?  I  unhesitatingly 
answer.  Yes.  The  possibilities  of  grace  are  not  exhausted  in 
an  average  experience.  The  common  defects  are  not  necessary, 
and  they  are  not  excusable.  They  are  defects — flaws  and  faults 
which  may  be  and  ought  to  be  remedied.  The  soul  is  conva- 
lescent, with  promises  of  perfect  healing  if  it  will,  but  the  cure 
is  not  complete.  The  goal  of  perfect  health  has  not  been  reached. 
It  is  a  forgiven  soul,  and  so  delivered  from  guilt.  It  is  a  regen- 
erate soul,  having  in  it  initial  restoratives  to  normalcy — the  actual 
presence  of  the  divine  life  in  it — but  it  has  remaining  defects, 
flaws  and  faults,  which  demand  further  cure,  and  for  the  want  of 


152  rniLOSOPHY  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE. 

which  it  docs  not  enjoy  continuous  sunshine,  but  often  suffers 
chidings  of  conscience  and  repi'oof  of  the  blessed  Holy  Spirit. 

Now,  I  think,  any  candid  and  intelligent  Christian  will 
admit  that  these  facts  are  the  general  facts  of  Christian  experi- 
ence. What'  is  the  philosophy  of  these  facts  ;  that  is,  what  is 
the  rational  explanation  of  them  ?  To  this  question  I  must 
answer,  first,  it  is  not  because  a  better  experience  is  not  possi- 
ble. I  think  I  am  safe  in  saying  that  there  is  no  Cliristian  soul, 
wliatever  its  attainments  in  grace,  that  does  not  feel  that  it  has 
not  exhausted  the  possibiHties  of  grace.  I  tliink  we  must  all 
agree  that  any  remaining  defect  is  not  on  God's  part.  Ilis  part 
of  the  work  is  not  imperfect.  The  forgiveness  is  a  perfect  for- 
giveness. The  seed  of  the  divine  life  implanted  is  a  perfect 
seed.  lie  has  furnished  all  the  conditions  requisite  on  his  part 
for  a  perfect  result — so  far  as  a  perfect  result  can  be  reached. 
His  spirit  has  come  into  the  soul  to  restore  it,  and  realize  in  it 
complete  harmony  with  its  law,  if  it  will. 

My  second  affirmation  is,  that  any  remaining  defectiveness  of 
experience  is  the  fault  of  the  soul  itself.  That  fault  is  either  a 
curable  fault  or  it  is  not.  If  it  is  not  curable,  it  must  arise  from 
the  nature  of  the  subject ;  that  is,  must  be  because  the  subject 
will  not  admit  of  any  thing  more  perfect.  That  is  a  conceivable 
fact.  There  is  a  limit  to  tiie  possibilities  of  the  finite.  But  if 
tJLS  be  the  case,  the  defect  cannot  involve  blameworthiness  in 
any  sense.  For  not  to  realize  the  impossible  can  violate  no 
ethical  obligation.  But  if  it  is  a  curable  defect,  it  must  be 
curable  either  by  the  soul  itself,  or  by -God,  who  is  the  co-factor, 
or  by  both  conjointly.  If  it  is  curable  by  the  soul  itself,  then 
the  soul  is  at  fault.  If  it  is  curable  by  God  himself,  and  if  it 
ought  to  be  cured,  then  God  is  at  fault.  This  is  an  impossible 
thought.     But  if  it  is  curable  by  God  and  the  soul  conjointly, 


PHILOSOPHY  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE.  153 

then  tlie  fault  must  fall  upon  both  or  upon  one  of  the  co-factors. 
It  is  impossible  to  think  that  God  is  at  fault.  Then  the  fault 
must  still  be  with  the  soul  for  some  failure  on  its  part,  which  acts 
as  a  hinderance  to  God  in  doing  what  he  would  do  for  it  if  it 
were  faithful  to  prescribed  conditions.  If  God  does  not  do  all 
that  he  might  do  if  the  soul  contributed  its  conditioning  part 
the  responsibility  still  falls  on  the  soul.  Its  experience  is 
defective  because  it  will  have  it  so,  or  because  in  some  way, 
from  an  infirmity  which  it  fails  to  overcome  or  which  cannot 
be  overcome,  it  does  not  furnish  the  conditions  of  a  more  perfect 
experience. 


154  PHILOSOPHY  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE. 


LECTURE  VIII. 
POSSIBILITIES    OF    GRACE,    AND  ADVICES. 

Can  ordinary  Christian  experience  be  improved?  "We 
unliesitatingly  answer,  yes.  Ought  it  to  be  improved?  Again 
we  unhesitatingly,  answer,  yes.  When  may  it  be  improved  ? 
We  unhesitatingly  answer,  now  ;  and  continuously  evermore. 
In  what  respects  and  how  may  it  be  improved  ?  This  will  re- 
quire more  extended  answer. 

I  approach  the  question,  In  what  respect  and  how  may  the 
experience  of  a  regenerate  soul  be  improved  by  the  postulation 
of  a  law  ? 

All  movements  in  the  spiritual  world,  as  in  the  natural,  are 
regulated  by  law — nothing  is  left  to  accident  or  the  hazard  of 
chance.  God  is  a  God  of  order.  He  regulates  his  own  move- 
ments according  to  perfect  rules,  which  he  never  violates. 
They  are  as  fixed  and  imnmtable  as  his  own  nature  and  infinite 
perfections. 

Xatural  science  is  unraveling  the  mysteries  of  nature  simply 
by  ascertairdng  the  fixed  and  unalterable  laws.  Spiritualistic 
science  must  pursue  the  same  method.  The  problem  is  more 
involved,  but,  we  must  believe,  not  absolutely  insoluble.  The 
regulating  law  may  be  found  by  a  profound  study  of  the  soul, 
with  the  aid  of  the  reflected  light  of  revelation. 

We  begin  with  the  statement  that  a  spirit  is  a  real  being  and 
a  perfectly  definite  being — as  absolutely  so  as  any  other  being. 
Nothing  in  nature  is  in  any  respect  more  real.  As  a  being,  a 
spirit  is  exactly  what  God  made  it — nothing  more — nothing 
less — nothing  other.  As  a  being  it  has  added  nothing  to  itself 
and  can  add  nothing.     In  this  respect  it  is  as  powerless  as  any 


PHILOSOPHY  OF  GHIilSTIAN  EXPERIENCE.  155 

material  atom.  There  may  be  varied  types  of  spiritual  beings, 
each  differing  from  all  others  in  degrees  and  kinds  of  powers, 
for  aught  we  know;  but  each  type,  and  each  individual  under 
the  type,  has,  as  to  content  of  being,  precisely  the  dower 
imparted  in  creation.  As  to  the  powers  and  attributes  with 
which  it  is  endowed,  therefore,  and  as  to  the  environments  in 
which  it  finds  itself  placed,  it  can  have  no  more  responsibility 
than  any  other  atom  has.     This  is  our  first  postulate. 

The  human  soul,  whose  experiences  are  the  subject  of  our 
inquiry,  is  better  known  to  us  than  any  other  spirit,  and  in 
some  respects  better  known  to  us  than  any  other  being.  No 
knowledge  is  so  certain  as  tliat  which  is  given  in  consciousness. 
The  soul — its  powers,  states,  acts,  and  laws  of  action — is  the 
immediate  subject  of  consciousness.  By  consciousness  we  know 
the  existence  of  soul — the  direct  cognition  of  it  emerges  in 
every  other  knowledge.  We  know  it  as  the  ego — ^tlie  self  and 
every  other  object,  including  the  body,  as  objective — as  the  not- 
self — as  external.  In  the  same  way,  by  consciousness,  we  know 
that  the  self  is  unknown  to  consciousness,  as  possessing  any  of 
the  (pialities  we  perceive  in  material  objects,  as  form,  color, 
weight,  divisibility,  and  such  like.  We  know  that,  while  void 
of  these  qualities,  the  self  knows  itself  as  possessing  other  qual- 
ities which  material  objects  do  not  possess,  or  are  not  perceived 
to  possess.  These  qualities  are,  power  to  know,  including  the 
intellectual  group — to  perceive,  to  form  ideas,  to  think,  to 
reason,  to  differentiate,  to  compare,  to  judge,  to  remember,  to 
distinguish  between  what  things  are  true  and  what  arc  fanciful; 
power  of  imagination  and  faith ;  powers  of  sensibility — the 
sensitive  and  emotive  group— as  power  to  love  and  hate,  to  feel 
joy  and  sorrow,  approbation  and  remorse,  pain  and  pleasure ; 
the  moral  group — power  to  distinguish  between  right  and 
wrong,  to  feel  the  obligation  of  the  ought  and  ought  not,  to  feel 


156  PHILOSOPHY  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE 

the  counter  attractions  of  objects  known  to  be  right  or  wrong ; 
the  vobmtary  group — power  to  choose  between  objects  which 
are  discerned  to  be  right  or  wrong,  power  of  free  self-deter- 
mination to  this  or  that  or  the  other  ;  to  make  good  or  evil 
choices,  to  obey  or  disobey  the  imperative  of  righteous  laws. 

If  there  is  any  thing  known,  so  much  the  ego  knows  of  itself. 
The  soul  is  able  to  know  still  more  than  these  qualities,  attri- 
butes, powers,  or  whatsoever  you  choose  to  call  them,  of 
itself.  It  cognizes  certain  laws  of  relation  and  interaction 
among  these  several  groups  of  powers,  regulative  of  them — an 
inner  and  inviolable  constitution  or  economy  of  its  life.  While 
it  knows  that  all  these  groups  of  powers  have  a  unitary  ground, 
that  is,  that  the  self  is  one  and  indivisible,  it  knows  that  the , 
groups  of  powers  act  separately,  but  under  law,  and  each  group 
under  its  own  law,  and  that  the  interaction  of  tlie  several  groups 
among  and  upon  each  other  is  under  a  predetermined  law  also, 
which  never  is  and  never  can  be  violated  by  itself,  and  which 
its  creator  will  never  disregard.  Under  this  sacred  constitution 
the  intellectual  group  of  powers  takes  the  initiative  in  every 
movement.  The  movement  may  stop  here,  and  neither  the 
natural  or  moral  sensibilities  partici23ate  at  all — may  not  at  all 
be  called  into  exercise.  The  mind  perceives,  judges,  fancies, 
remembers — that  is  all.  No  sensibility  is  excited,  no  emotion 
stirred.  An  object  has  passed  before  it,  but  has  aroused  no 
passion,  no  desire,  no  feeling.  Wlien  the  sensibilities  are 
untouched  the  voluntary  group  cannot  be  brought  into  exercise. 
In  order  to  this,  some  emotive  condition  must  supervene.  The 
second  group  must  in  some  way  be  touched  before  the  third  can 
be  brought  into  exercise. 

In  order  to  bring  the  second  group  into  exercise,  it  is  requisite 
not  only  that  there  should  be  an  exercise  of  the  first,  but  the 
object  M'hich  passes  before  the  first  group  must  have  power 


PHILOSOPHY  OF  CHRISTTAN  EXPERIENCE.  157 

to  interest  the  second  in  some  way  and  to  some  degree — must 
stai't  some  emotion  of  desire,  fear,  curiosity,  or  interest  of  some 
]jind — otherwise,  it  will  pass  simply  as  a  shadow  over  the 
landscape. 

Now,  it  is  under  the  operation  of  this  law  that  God  develops 
ethical  states  in  the  soul  of  man  ;  it  is  by  means  of  it  that 
he  expels  evil  and  enthrones  holiness.  Careful  examination 
will  discern  in  this  law  the  solution  of  the  problem  of  regen- 
eration and  of  soul  progress  toward  perfection.  To  expel  the 
false  he  introduces  the  true ;  to  win  from  tlie  evil  he  presents 
the  good.  He  sets  life  and  death  before  the  soul,  that  it  may 
choose  which.  He  quickens  and  energizes  by  means  of  the 
truth.  It  is  what  has  been  aptly  called  "  the  expulsive  power 
of  a  now  affection."  In  regeneration  he  creates  a  preponderance 
of  affection  toward  righteousness,  lie  draws  the  soul  by  a  new 
attraction.  The  will  becomes  empowered  to  reverse  its  former 
choices  and  determine  upon  a  new  course.  The  spiritual  cur- 
rents set  in  a  new  direction.  A  new  life  dominates.  The  soul 
is  revolutionized — born  anew.  Tlie  wliole  tenor  of  practice 
is  changed. 

We  have  said  the  defects  of  experience  after  regeneration  are 
of  two  kinds  :  First,  in  the  matter  of  the  subjective  state  of  the 
soul ;  second,  in  the  matter  of  external  manifestation. 

The  status  of  the  soul  after  regeneration  has  been  already 
described  at  length,  and  it  is  only  necessary  to  make  a  brief 
resume  here.  It  is  a  forgiven  soul  with  the  principle  of  right- 
eousness implanted  in  it,  but  it  has  the  evil  of  infirmity,  of 
weakness,  and  strong  tendencies  to  sin  remaining  in  it,  as 
the  heirloom  of  its  native  abnormalcy  or  depravity  ;  and,  fur- 
ther than  that,  tendencies  to  sin  which  have  grown  in  it  by  in- 
dulgence and  by  the  free  choice  of  evil  which  has  marked  its 
previoQS  life.     The  throb  of  the  divine  life  in  it  is  feeble  and 


158  PHILOSOPHY  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE. 

subject  to  fluctuations.  There  is  not  only  weakness  but  also 
poverty  in  its  graces.  Infancy  implies  all  this.  All  Christians 
are  conscious  of  it.  Some  infants  are  more  robust  than  others  ; 
some  are  sickly  and  do  not  grow.  Growth  is  not  determined  by 
time  merely,  but  also  by  health  and  nutritious  food.  The 
soul,  like  the  body,  needs  good  constitution,  rich  blood,  to  begin 
with  ;  wants  to  be  well  born  ;  it  also  wants  care  and  nutrition. 
Truth  makes  some  tissue.  Aspiration  opens  all  the  avenues  to 
light  and  warmth.  Prayer  brings  needed  supplies.  Where 
these  are  wanting  life  pulses  feebly  and  emaciation  is  painfully 
visible.  There  are  many  sickly  souls — not  entirely  dead,  but 
only  just  alive.  This  is  not  a  desirable  state.  Who  is  content 
with  weakness  and  poverty  of  blood  ?  Who  does  not  see 
beauty  in  the  ruddy  glow  and  the  strong  elastic  movement  ? 

The  other  defect  we  mentioned  is  that  of  the  life.  This  fol- 
lows the  other.  If  the  inward  life  is  feeble  the  outward  will 
be  sure  to  be  careless,  irregular,  unsatisfactory.  The  stream 
will  not  rise  above  the  fountain.  There  is  interaction  between 
the  internal  and  external.  A  cold  heart,  absence  of  inner 
strength,  will  manifest  itself  iti  the  practical  life  and  outward 
example.  So  also  unfaithfulness  in  the  outward  life  will  bring 
death  to  the  soul.  Fidelity  in  externals  will  help  to  the  crea- 
tion and  preservation  of  internal  health,  and  the  contrary. 

We  now  raise  the  question.  Can  these  defects  be  removed,  or 
in  any  degree  removed ;  and,  if  so,  how  and  when? 

This  is  a  subject  among  us  of  great  importance  as  affecting 
the  peace  of  the  Church  and  as  affecting  the  question  what  we 
are  to  teach  as  truth. 

Can  the  defect  be  removed,  or  in  any  degree  be  removed  ? 
No  one  pretends  that  any  amount  of  gracious  agency  that  may 
be  exerted  in  the  soul  can  lift  it  into  a  state  of  absolute  per- 


PHILOSOPHY  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE.  159 

fection,  or  angelic  perfection,  or  even  Aclamic  perfection, 
though  there  is  a  total  absence  of  proof  that  Aclamic  perfection 
rated  very  high.  Thus  by  common  consent  a  damage  has  come 
to  the  soul  by  sin  that  in  some  respects  is  irreparable  while  it 
remains  in  the  body.  All  admit  that  as  a  soul,  in  the  matter  of 
the  right  adjustment  of  its  affections  and  development  of  its 
intelligence  and  strength  and  proper  action  of  its  will,  it  is 
capable  of  great  and  progressive  improvement.  Some  believe, 
and  even  assert  it  as  matter  of  personal  experience,  that  fol- 
lowing regeneration,  by  a  special  and  separate  act  of  the  Holy 
Ghost,  in  answer  to  prayer  and  a  faith  which  claims  it,  the  soul 
may  immediately  and  consciously  be  raised  to  a  state  in  which 
all  evil  tendencies  will  be  eradicated  and  all  temptations  cease 
to  have  any  influence  with  it.  Others  believe  that  by  continu- 
ous growth  it  may  ultimately  come  into  this  state  while  yet  in 
the  body.  But  even  those  who  hold  this  high  view  do  not  pre- 
tend that,  while  rendered  ethically  perfect,  it  is  freed  from  in- 
firmities of  judgment  or  delivered  from  defects  which  do  nc 
affect  character. 

All  along  through  the  Christian  ages  there  have  been 
Johannine  spirits  of  such  saintliness  as  to  give  sanction  to  the 
most  extreme  views  as  to  the  possibilities  of  grace.  Thomas  a 
Kempis,  Fenelon,  Fletcher,  Madame  Guyon,  and  others  dead, 
and  some  still  living  might  be  added  to  the  list.  For  more  than  a 
hundred  years  it  has  been  a  subject  of  deep  interest  among  Chris- 
tians of  mystical  tendencies  in  all  sects,  and  especially  among 
the  Methodist  family  of  churches.  It  has  undoubtedly  given 
rise  to  fanaticisms  and  delusions  in  an  alarming  degree. 

Meantime  there  is  a  great  truth  which   must  be  conserved, 

and,  as  far  as  possible,  rescued  from  the  abuses  to  which  it  has 

become  subjected.     The  odium  that  gathers  about  it  by  evil 

association   is  no  excuse  for  its  desertion..    Christ,  if  on  the 

11 


160  PHILOSOPHY  OF  CHRISTIAN-  EXPERIENCE. 

gibbet,  is  still  Christ.  A  jewel  is  still  a  jewel  however  in- 
crusted  with  base  alloys.  The  alloys  may  hide  the  precious 
gem  or  disfigure  its  beauty,  but  cannot  destroy  its  value.  It  is 
the  task  of  Christian  patience  to  remove  tlie  debasing  incrusta- 
tions and  set  it  in  position. 

The  truth  to  be  preserved  is  that  there  is  a  higher  experience 
possible  to  Christians  than  that  which  is  attained  in  and  at  the 
time  of  regeneration  ;  and  this  must  be  so  taught  as  not  to  re- 
flect discredit  on  regeneration  on  the  one  hand  or  excite  fanat- 
icism on  the  other,  and  so  as  to  inspire  aspiration  after  it  as  duty 
and  privilege.  The  possibility  of  enlargement  is  beyond  ques- 
tion. The  duty  is  plain.  The  desire  is  felt  by  every  truly  re- 
generate soul.  It  may  and  ought  to  be  by  growth  in  grace  day 
by  day.  It  may  be  by  sudden  and  overwhelming  manifestations 
to  and  in  the  soul  at  any  moment  when  earnestly  sought.  It  is 
precisely  the  same  grace  of  life  in  all  stages  of  possible  enlarge- 
ment— God  more  and  more,  or  in  a  moment,  completely  fill- 
ing the  regenerate  soul  with  his  presence  and  his  love,  so  that  it 
effloresces  in  all  the  graces  of  righteousness  ;  its  love  is  perfect 
and  its  peace  is  undisturbed. 

There  is  such  an  enlargement  possible,  and  we  must  believe  it 
is  possible  at  any  moment.  There  is  no  limit  to  the  possibilities 
of  grace  short  of  the  perfect  love  which  keeps  perpetual  sunshine 
of  God's  favor.  The  limits  are  in  ourselves.  God  wills  that  his 
people  should  be  a  holy  people  ;  that  every  facet  of  the  saved 
soul  should  reflect  his  image  ;  that  the  seed  of  life  implanted  in  it 
should  grow  to  a  tree  of  righteousness,  every  bough  of  which 
should  come  to  perfect  fruitage.  He  would  have  all  his  soldiers 
valiant,  all  his  saints  appearing  before  the  Lord  and  going  from 
strength  to  strength.  He  would  have  no  schisms  in  the  ranks  and 
no  laofgards  in  the  march.  He  would  see  all  clothed  in  the  beauti- 
f  ul  garments  of  meekness,  gentleness,  and  love.     He  would  have 


PIIILOSOPEY  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE.  161 

a  glorious  Church,  without  spot  or  wrinkle,  whose  priests  are 
clothed  with  salvation  and  whose  saints  shout  aloud  for  joy.  He 
would  have  his  Zion  a  city  set  on  a  hill  whose  glory  cannot  be 
hid,  and  whose  shining  would  lighten  the  nations.  For  this  he 
would  have  each  soul  lilled  with  the  glory  and  joy  of  his  presence 
— a  sacred  temple  all  of  whose  recesses  are  undefiled.  We  are 
sure  that  this  is  so.  There  is  no  Christian  soul  that  does  not  feel 
that  it  is  so.  It  is  the  ringing  cry  resounding  through  all  the 
corridors  of  every  Christian  soul :  "  Be  ye  holy  that  bear  the 
vessels  of  the  Lord." 

What  is  this  higher  grace  ?  Some  call  it  holiness ;  some 
purity ;  some  sanctification ;  some  perfection  ;  some  maturity. 
There  has  been  much  unseemly  disputation  over  the  name  as 
well  as  much  fanatical  profession  concerning  the  experience, 
and  much  crude  and  unsound  teaching  as  to  w^hat  it  includes 
and  how  it  is  to  be  attained,  and  much  ill-tempered  criticism. 

It  answers  all  the  ends  of  description  to  say  it  is  the  perfect- 
ing of  the  soul  in  love.  Love  is  not  simply  the  queen  of  the 
graces,  but  the  mother  of  them  all — the  all-embracing.  Love 
is  the  fulfilling  of  the  law  ;  love  made  perfect  excludes  env}-, 
jealousy,  pride,  and  all  violent  and  hurtful  tempers  and  acts; 
love  is  reverent,  meek,  humble,  docile,  patient,  obedient,  work- 
eth  no  ill,  f ulfilleth  all  righteousness.  Perfect  love  inspires  per- 
fect faith,  courage,  heroism,  self-denial,  casteth  out  all  fear. 
Perfection  of  holy  love  is  the  perfection  of  saintship.  The  cul- 
tivation of  every  other  grace  is  prompted  by  love,  and  all  growth 
in  them  is  measured  by  and  is  heightening  of  love.  Love  to  God 
is  a  divine  inspiration.  God  fills  the  soul  with  his  love  to  over- 
flowing. It  thrills  with  gladness.  It  expels  impurity.  While 
it  reigns  there  is  no  place  for  evil  thoughts,  evil  desires,  evil 
feelings.     Heaven  has  already  come.     Can  it  be  permanent  at 


162  PHILOSOPHY  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE. 

its  highest  pitch  ?  We  think  we  are  safe  in  saying  not,  as  an 
emotion.  The  thrill  of  love  and  joy  must  be  intermittent  in  a 
life  like  ours  on  the  earth.  Other  feelings  must  come  and  for 
the  time  obscure  and  replace  these.  But  as  a  principle  gov- 
erning the  life  we  are  bold  to  say  love  may  and  should  abide 
moment  by  moment  and  without  alloy.  That  is  all  God  wants  ; 
that  is  moral  perfection ;  that  is  spiritual  holiness ;  that  opens 
heaven.  Heaven  will  differ  from  the  present  as  simple  full- 
ness of  all  that  love  implies,  with  nothing  to  interrupt  its  ex- 
pression and  nothing  to  detract  from  its  rapture — no  jar,  no 
abatement,  no  alloy — love  inspiring,  directing,  thrilling  every 
power  for  ever  and  ever. 

How  may  this  better  experience  be  attained  ?  To  this  we 
answer,  just  as  all  spiritual  experience  is  attained  :  by  the  proper 
action  of  the  soul  itself  and  the  co-working  of  God  with  it.  It 
will  not  be  forced  ;  it  will  not  come  unsought ;  it  will  not  come 
improperly  sought.  Mere  desires  or  mere  prayers  or  mere 
faith  will  not  secure  it.  External  reforms  or  mere  legal  moral- 
ity will  not  bring  it.  There  are  no  artificial  means  or  magical 
appliances  that  will  help  to  it.  Professions  do  not  aid  to  it. 
It  is  not  an  esoteric  trust  conferred  by  some  sanctified  guild ; 
it  is  not  necessary  outcome  of  lapse  of  time ;  it  is  not  a  re- 
served grace  to  be  realized  only  in  the  dying  hour. 

God's  methods  with  the  soul  are  normal.  Soul  development 
is  according  to  fixed  and  unalterable  laws.  That  the  soul  come 
into  its  highest  possibilities,  what  is  necessary  on  the  soul's 
part  ? 

First,  it  is  necessary  that  it  should  have  before  it  a  distinct 
aim  and  a  definite  ideal.  The  general  aim  must  be  the  attain- 
ment of  the  highest  excellence  of  Christian  character,  as  near 
an  approach  as  possible  to  ideal  perfection.     The  initial  aim  of 


PniLOSOPHY  OF  CnRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE.  163 

the  seeking  soul  was  forgiveness,  deliverance  from  gnilt.  This 
is  the  starting-point  of  all  Christian  experience.  Hence  the 
struggle  of  repentance  and  faith.  In  forgiveness  and  regen- 
eration it  attains  this  primary  aim,  comes  to  the  beginning  of  a 
holy  character.  But  now  another  goal  opens  to  it— tlie  goal  of 
perfected  holiness,  a  life  according  to  the  divine  ideal.  Every 
renewed  soul  comes  to  feel  not  only  that  it  has  not  fully  at- 
tained, but  an  impulse  of  desire  and  a  sense  of  obligation  to  the 
continued  pursuit  of  something  more.  What  that  something 
more  is  should  be  resolutely  studied-  The  soul  must  be  in- 
duced to  see  and  feel  its  defects  and  to  consider  the  possibili- 
ties of  grace  and  the  obligation  to  reach  them  to  the  utmost. 
It  is  not  a  difficult  thing  to  find  what  the  defects  are.  As  a 
rule  they  are  open.  The  soul  sees  and  feels  them — its  weak- 
nesses, its  failures,  its  shortcomings,  its  want  of  utter  devotion 
— remaining  earthiness,  leasing  after  questionable  pleasures — 
moral  defects  and  blemishes,  not  willful  sins,  but  not  a  satisfy- 
ing freedom  from  evil  impulses — a  low  average  grade  of  spir- 
itual life.  It  must  by  attention  to  the  eludings  of  the  Spirit,  to 
the  calls  of  conscience,  to  the  holy  yearnings  within  in  its  best 
moments  keep  ever  seeking.  It  nuist  be  earnest  to  keep  the 
highest  ideal  before  it,  however  it  may  feel  rebuked  by  it. 
This  is  God's  appointed  method  of  soul  growth.  He  j)uts  the 
standard  before  the  soul  and  demands  that  it  shall  measure 
itself  by  it  and  measure  its  obligations  by  it.  It  must  be  loyal 
to  the  test.  This  is  the  finger-boarded  road.  The  end  to  be 
aimed  at  we  must  remember  is  not  a  feeling,  but  a  life ;  not  a 
shibboleth,  but  a  character — a  perfect  cleansing  of  the  heart 
from  all  sinful  indulgence. 

The  second  point  is  a  resolute  determination  to  measure  up 
to  the  divine  standard — tlie  ideal.  It  will  cost  something,  but 
it  is  enough  that  God  demands  it,  and  both  consistency  and  the 


164  PHIL0S0PH7  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE. 

soul's  peace,  and  the  greatest  usefulness  demand  it.  No  head- 
way can  be  made  without  fixed  purpose.  The  soul  must  say,  I 
will  by  God's  help.  Tlie  resolution  must  he  final — absolute. 
There  must  be  no  compromise.     God  covets  the  whole  heart. 

Third.  These  conditions  being  met,  the  prayer  of  faith  will 
win  the  evermore  increasing  consciousness  of  completeness  in 
Christ ;  love  will  be  enthroned  ;  more  and  more  peace  and  every 
other  grace  will  abound  ;  the  soul  will  be  filled  with  the  fullness 
of  God's  love  and  will  reflect  his  image.  God's  time  is  now, 
and  every  succeeding  now.  There  is  no  need  that  we  dispute 
about  names.  What  the  demand  is  and  must  ever  be  from  day 
to  day  is  holiness  to  the  Lord — all  of  grace  that  absolute  conse- 
cration of  our  whole  being  and  present  faith  will  bring  us. 
Soul  hunger  and  simple  faith  are  our  part.  It  is  God's  part  to 
cleanse  the  temple  and  fill  it  with  his  glory. 

To  keep  any  grace  bestowed  the  soul  must  bo  alert.  "  Keep 
the  soul  with  all  diligence,  for  out  of  it  are  the  issues  of  life," 
is  God's  exhortation.  As  you  see,  synergism  runs  through 
from  beginning  to  end  of  the  Avhole  process.  God  keeps  only 
those  who  keep  themselves.  "  Watch  and  pray,  lest  ye  enter 
into  temptation,"  is  the  command.  "  The  Lord  is  thy  keeper  " 
is  the  encouragement.  Nothing  is  so  delicate  as  the  purity  of 
the  soul — a  breath  of  evil  soils  it.  Contagion  and  pollution 
are  in  the  earthly  air ;  temptation  lurks  in  every  ambush. 
Every  motive  needs  to  be  scanned,  every  thought  scrutinized, 
every  feeling  noted,  the  will  vigilant  and  prompt  to  every 
duty.  The  heart  must  be  kept  clear  from  ^w^)^^  evil  imagina- 
tions and  surmisings — selfishness,  pride,  self-Avill — nmst  culti- 
vate meekness,  docility,  charity,  humility,  reverence,  prayer- 
fulness,  faith — in  honor  preferring  others ;  must  see  that  love 
has  absolute  empire.  The  tongue,  that  unruly  member,  must 
be  kept  under  constant  espionage.     The  life  must  be  pure, 


PHILOSOPHY  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE  165 

brave,  generous,  self-denying,  full  of  good  deeds  and  beautiful 
sanctities,  void  of  strifes  and  contentions.  The  way  is  narrow 
and  strait,  "  the  king's  highway  of  holiness "  ;  but  witli  tlie 
constant  supplies  of  God  help,  which  faith  and  prayer  will 
bring,  it  can  be  traveled,  and  perpetual  sunshine  will  gladden 
the  pilgrim  soul  who  keeps  it.  Growth  is  God's  order.  No 
stage  is  or  can  ever  be  reached  when  the  divine  order  is  ex- 
cluded or  superseded.  The  more  vigorous  the  life  implanted 
the  more  constant  and  marked  should  be  the  growth.  Each 
new  advance  is  the  stage  fur  another.  "  From  the  blade  to  the 
full  corn  in  the  ear  " — from  childhood  to  manhood,  and  ever 
more  and  more  perfect  manhood.  Faith,  prayer,  watchful- 
ness, diligence,  absolute  purpose,  are  the  divine  conditions  of 
success — holiness  the  goal. 

There  is  no  such  thing  as  growth  or  even  continuance  in 
grace  without  the  continuous  use  of  the  acquired  power.  The 
law  of  increase,  or  even  continued  possession,  is  use.  The  para- 
ble of  the  talents.  It  is  the  universal  law:  "He  that  hath 
[that  is,  he  that  uses]  to  him  shall  be  given  " — use  makes  in- 
crease. "  Not  the  hearer  but  the  doer  of  the  law  "  is  the  ap- 
proved servant.  An  unused  talent  shrivels  and  dies.  It  is 
important  that  we  should  not  make  mistake  what  is  use.  It 
is  not  use  simply  to  be  punctual  to  church,  or  even  to  private 
prayer  and  heart  searching,  or  loud  and  constant  testimony  and 
profession.  The  public  services  of  the  Church  are  means  of 
grace,  and  so  of  prayer  and  heart  searching.  Rightly  used 
they  give  tone  and  strength,  but  they  are  the  arsenal,  the 
armory.  They  exist  as  means  to  an  end.  Holy  living  is  the 
end.  If  we  would  grow  in  this  we  must  use  the  strength  de- 
rived, not  merely  enjoy  it.  It  is  the  use  that  gives  zest.  Grace 
is  given  that  we  may  act,  not  simply  be  happy.  Holiness  to 
the  Lord  means  co-working  with  God.     "  If  any  man  love  me 


166  PHILOSOPHT  OF  CHRISTIAN'  EXFERIEITCK 

he  will  keep  my  commandments."  He  that  is  patient,  indus- 
trious, generous,  charitable,  busy  doing  good,  earnest  in  right 
living,  will  be  the  thrifty  growing  plant  in  the  garden  of  the 
Lord. 

I  quote  from  Dr.  Eos  well  D  wight  Hitchcock's  Eternal 
Atonement,  a  little  volume  of  great  beauty  and  in  which  is  a 
laro-e  amount  of  useful  readins; :  "  What  then  is  God's  will  ? 
So  far  as  we  ourselves  are  concerned  this  is  the  will  of  God, 
says  an  apostle,  even  our  sanctification.  That  we  advance  in 
holiness,  subduing  our  sins,  that  we  grow  every  day  more 
pure,  more  fruitful,  more  like  Christ,  our  pattern — this  is  the 
will  of  God  concerning  us.  It  is  the  making  our  religion  not 
an  entertainment,  but  a  service.  We  are  to  set  before  us  the 
perfect  standard  and  then  struggle  to  shape  our  lives  to  it. 
Personal  sanctity  must  be  made  a  business  of.  Those  saints  of 
the  Middle  Ages,  like  Tauler  and  a  Kempis,  who  wrestled  so 
hard  for  holiness,  slaying  so  sternly  their  bosom  sins  and  look- 
ing so  meekly  yet  so  fixedly  to  Christ,  may  well  be  invoked  as 
the  rebukers  of  our  sloth.  It  is  just  at  this  point  that  the  piety 
of  our  day  is  the  most  sadly  defective.  It  is  not  sufficiently  in- 
flamed with  a  desire  after  sanctity.  It  is  self-indulgent  when 
it  ought  to  be  self-denying — tolerant  of  impurities  and  infirmi- 
ties of  which  it  ought  to  be  utterly  intolerant;  cold  and  slack, 
when  it  ought  to  be  warm  and  diligent ;  asleep  over  faults  of 
character  and  in  the  presence  of  spiritual  dangers  which  ought 
to  awaken  godly  jealousy  and  godly  fear.  It  is  true  we  are 
saved  by  hope,  and  yet  it  is  equally  true  that  he  who  hath  this 
hope  in  him  should  purify  himself,  as  Christ  is  pure.  In  a 
word,  it  is  character  that  is  required  of  us  ;  laid,  indeed,  in 
grace  and  imperfect  at  the  best,  needing  to  shelter  itself  be- 
hind the  perfect  righteousness  of  Christ,  yet  a  piece  of  solid 
moral  masonry  to  be  carried  on  and  carried  up  by  a  life-long 


nilLOSOPIIY  OF  CURISTIAN  EXPERIENCE.  167 

toil ;  and  this,  too,  not  for  our  own  sake,  but  for  Christ's  sake  and 
because  God  so  wills  it.  Our  own  spiritual  comfort,  the  sure 
fruit  of  a  careful  walk  with  God,  though  an  incident,  is  not  to 
be  the  end  of  our  endeavors,  but  all  we  do  is  to  be  out  of  sim- 
ple loyalty  to  redeeming  love.  Mere  obedience  to  conscience 
is  but  a  pagan  virtue,  whicli  in  the  highest  sphere  is  not  a  vir- 
tue at  all.  Virtue  for  us  is  obedience  to  God  in  Christ.  Pains- 
taking, of  course,  it  will  be,  that  there  may  be  no  blot  upon  tlie 
life  ;  self-denying,  as  against  our  indulgence,  our  appetites, 
and  our  passions ;  asking  only  for  duty,  though  we  knew  it 
were  asking  for  martynloni ;  and  all  for  Christ.  Such  is  the 
will  of  God  concerning  us,  and  only  he  who  does  it  should 
reckon  himself  a  child  of  God. 

"But  besides  this  resolute  endeavor  after  personal  sanc- 
tity we  have  duties  also  toward  our  Christian  brethren.  The 
fellowship  of  the  saints,  the  Church  catholic  on  earth,  under 
whatever  name  or  forms,  as  widely  reaching  as  Christendom 
itself — these  are  the  only  permitted  boundaries  of  our  love. 
"Wheresoever  Christ  has  gone  with  his  quickening  grace  there 
must  we  also  follow  with  the  mantle  of  Christian  charity. 
They  who  love  a  common  Lord  must  love  each  other."  * 

We  have  now  sufficiently  indicated  the  facts  and  processes  of 
Christian  experience  in  their  order  and  relation  and  the  under- 
lying implications.  So  far  forth  we  have  reached  a  philosophy 
of  them — that  is,  a  rational  explanation  of  them.  We  have  seen 
that  they  accord  with  fundamental  moral  and  mental  laws.  It 
remains  that  we  more  particularly  point  out  the  reason  why  of 
them — the  end  they  serve.  This  has  been  implied  all  along, 
but  perhaps  should  be  more  carefully  stated. 

It  is  a  safe  principle  to  assume  that  nothing  in  the  divine 

*Eternal  Atonement,  pp.  47,  48. 


168  PHIL  OS  OPE  Y  OF  CHRISTIA  N  EXPERIENCE. 

economy  is  without  an  adequate  end.  Wherefore  all  this 
arrangement  ? 

To  this  we  answer  in  general  terms,  it  is  God's  plan  of 
bringing  men  to  eternal  holy  happiness.  Man  is  a  sinner ; 
this  is  God's  way  of  saving  him — that  is,  of  rescuing  him  from 
the  evils  of  sin.  We  make  two  points :  First,  there  is  no 
other  way ;  second,  this  is  a  rational  and  effectual  way.  Let 
any  one  seriously  raise  the  question  how  man  can  be  saved 
from  sin,  and  lie  will  soon  discover  that  he  has  a  difficult 
problem  on  hand.  lie  will  find  that  sin  involves  character  and 
not  merely  external  conduct ;  that  at  its  root  it  is  rebellion 
against  God ;  resistance  of  all  ethical  laws  ;  hostility  to  the 
person  and  plans  of  the  Almighty  Sovereign  of  the  universe; 
anarchy,  ruin,  death. 

How  shall  it  be  got  rid  of  ?  Character  cannot  be  forced. 
It  cannot  be  created  by  omnipotent  will  without  annihilat- 
ing the  moral  system.  The  principle  of  administration  that 
would  uproot  sin  by  force  wonld  at  the  same  time  uproot  holi- 
ness— the  possibility  of  it.  The  oninij)otent  force  that  would 
coerce  a  will  wonld  in  the  act  obliterate  the  moral  system. 

He  cannot  ignore  sin,  and  treat  it  as  he  treats  holiness.  Let 
any  one  try  to  think  it  and  he  will  be  compelled  to  discover 
that  it  is  impossible.  God  has  no  power  to  obliterate  moral 
distinctions,  so  that  sin  and  holiness  shall  be  identical,  or  be 
treated  as  identical.  Ethical  principles  are  simply  the  immut- 
able principles  of  his  own  eternal  holiness.  To  change  them 
or  ignore  them  would  be  to  overthrow  himself. 

There  is  no  salvation  by  mere  sovereignty. 

The  problem  is  to  get  rid  of  sin; — to  change  the  sinner  to  a 
saint ;  to  make  him  such  a  being  as  a  holy  God  can  love.  So 
to  revolutionize  him  that  holy  law  can  approve  him,  and  holy 
beings  associate  with  him,  and  holy  happiness  come  to  him. 


PHILOSOPHY  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE.  169 

His  impure  thoughts  must  be  taken  out  of  him,  his  unholy  nat- 
ure must  be  changed,  his  rebeUious  will  must  be  made  loyal, 
his  malice  and  selfishness  must  be  replaced  with  love,  he  must 
be  put  into  harmony  with  heaven's  people  and  heaven's  law, 
and  heaven's  spirit,  and  heaven's  practices.  There  is  no  other 
way  to  save  him. 

Christian  experience  is  God's  way  of  solving  the  problem, 
his  appointed  method  of  reaching  the  end.  "We  have  seen 
what  that  method  is.  "W"e  have  seen  that  it  violates  no  ethical 
law  ;  that  it  does  not  require  the  surrender  of  holiness  on  God's 
part  and  that  it  does  no  violence  to  the  freedom  of  man,  and 
that  it  imperils  no  interest  of  the  universe — that  it  honors 
eternal  justice  and  eternal  love.  It  is  a  process  which  not  only 
may  issue  in  salvation — -that  is,  not  only  furnishes  a  rational 
ground  for  salvation,  but  on  ethical  principles  must  issue  in 
salvation.  He  that  was  a  sinner,  and  as  such  was  of  ethical 
necessity  excluded  from  heaven,  which  is  but  another  name  for 
holy  happiness,  by  the  change  wrought  in  him  becomes  not 
only  fitted  for  heaven,  but  on  eternal  ethical  principles  cannot 
be  excluded  from  heaven.  The  change  through  which  he  has 
passed  was  exactly  that  which  was  needed — the  means  answer 
to  the  end,  as  any  effect  answers  to  its  cause. 

In  bringing  the  lectures  on  the  philosophy  of  Christian  ex- 
perience to  a  close  a  few  advices  may  not  be  out  of  place. 

There  is  not  a  Christian  among  us,  whether  in  the  pulpit  or 
in  the  pew,  that  does  not  feel  that  what  God  wants  is  a  holy 
Church;  that  the  bride  of  his  Son  should  be  spotless;  that 
Zion  should  shine  ;  that  a  sinless  age  should  come. 

The  pulpit  is  God's  great  instrument  for  the  accomplishment 
of  these  results.  What  is  needed  in  these  times  is  that  the 
pulpit  should  be  faithful.     More  and  more  let  it  sound  the  note 


170  PHILOSOPHY  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE. 

of  warning  to  the  sinful  generation.  This  must  continue  to  be 
its  chief  function.  It  is  "  the  ministry  of  reconciliation."  Its 
commission  is  to  warn,  to  persuade  sinful  men  to  flee  from  the 
wrath  to  come,  and  to  build  up  the  Church  of  believers  in  holy 
faith.  Let  it  be  true  to  its  commission.  Let  it  sound  the  note 
of  warning,  "  dividing  the  word  of  its  message  faithfully,  giving 
to  saint  and  sinner  each  his  portion  in  due  season" — "  cry  aloud 
and  spare  not." 

The  messenger  of  God  should  be  wise.  There  never  was  a 
time  when  more  wisdom  was  needed.  There  are  many  lo ! 
heres  and  lo !  theres.  Go  not  after  them.  Follow  the  only  safe 
guide — the  great  Teacher  himself.  Preach  the  word  :  the  whole 
word  ;  be  instant  in  season  and  out  of  season.  Avoid  things 
that  engender  strife,  contention,  and  unprofitable  disputation. 
Cater  to  no  party  or  prejudice.  Keep  the  spirit  of  love  and 
gentleness.  Feed  the  flock;  do  not  neglect  the  lambs.  Preach 
not  to  please  yourselves,  but  the  Master  whose  ser\-ants  you  are. 
Beware  lest  your  words  and  doctrines  engender  mischief. 
"  Study  to  show  yourselves  approved  of  God,  workmen  that 
need  not  to  be  ashamed."  Be  not  censorious  in  the  pulpit. 
Keep  ever  in  mind  that  when  you  season  your  words  with  bit- 
terness the  harvest  will  not  be  sweet.  Do  not  imagine  that 
you  can  minister  to  life  with  tempers  and  words  that  lacerate 
and  wonnd  those  whmn  you  are  sent  to  heal.  Let  it  not  be  that 
the  people  who  shall  sit  under  your  ministry  shall,  under  the 
inspiration  of  your  temper  and  teachings,  be  torn  by  divisions 
and  factions.  Ileal  the  wounds  and  bind  up  the  sores  of  the 
hurt  of  God's  people. 

Preach  the  great  doctrine  of  holiness,  not  technically  or  dis- 
putatiously,  but  in  the  spirit  of  love  ;  not  to  repel,  but  to  attract 
and  win.  Preach  it  naturally,  as  you  preach  every  other  truth. 
Let  it  live  and  breathe  through  all  your  teachings  and  in  all 


PHILOSOPHY  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE.  171 

yonr  services  iii  due  proportion  and  out  of  the  heart  of  love. 
Avoid  unlioly  holiness.  Encourage  aspiration  after  a  beautiful 
and  blameless  life.  Let  your  gospel  so  build  men  in  truth  *and 
love  and  all  your  services  so  be  intoned  with  unction  of  sacred- 
ness  that  hungry  souls  will  be  fed,  and  that  cravings  after  less 
nutritious  food  will  find  no  occasion.  Deal  gently  with  the  weak 
and  erring.  Aspire,  yourselves,  after  greatest  sacredness  of 
character — the  highest  soul  experience.  Set  an  example  of 
meekness  and  modesty  in  your  own  professions,  and  of  true  and 
sublime  character  in  your  devotion  to  the  work  which  has  been 
committed  to  you.  Remember  the  maxim,  "  like  priest,  like 
people,"  and  be  an  example  to  the  flock. 

A  word  of  advice  to  those  believers  who  do  not  make  great 
professions  of  attainments  in  grace.  You  profess  to  be  Chris- 
tians. That  itself  is  a  great  profession.  It  places  you  among  the 
children  of  God.  It  brings  you  under  the  obligations  of  a 
righteous  and  holy  life.  Recognize  that  fact.  Especially 
beware  of  thinking  it  a  praiseworthy  tiling — a  virtue — -not  to 
profess  much.  More  yet,  beware  of  imagining  that  it  lessens  your 
obligation  to  a  holy  heart  and  a  holy  life ;  rather  lament  the 
conscious  deficiencies  which  restrain  you.  Above  all,  do  not 
allow  yourselves  to  take  an  attitude  of  hostility  to  high  experi- 
ence because  you  do  not  yourself  enjoy  it,  or  because  of  preju- 
dice against  some  who  seem  immodest,  and  wdiose  lives,  to  your 
thinking,  contradict  their  professions.  Justify  not  your  delin- 
quencies because  of  their  unseemliness.  Think  of  the  noble 
examples  of  the  best  saints.  Be  charitable  and  forbearing.  Do 
not  permit  the  frailties  of  others  to  be  a  hinderance  to  you. 
Deal  faithfully  with  your  own  soul.  Remember  you  are  a  dis- 
cij)le  of  Christ ;  you  represent  him  before  men ;  you  bear  his 
name ;  no  man  can  stand  for  you ;  no  man's  delinquencies  can 


172  PHILOSOPHY  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE. 

excuse  you.  Do  not  scandalize  liim  by  your  unfaithfulness.  If 
it  is  modesty  that  restrains  you,  pity  the  forward  ;  if  it  is  con- 
scious shortcomings,  be  not  censorious  of  others,  but  be  quick 
to  remedy  your  own  faults.  Remember  your  obligations ;  do 
not  forget  your  responsibility.  See  to  it  that  your  example  is 
faultless.  Be  not  content  with  any  thing  short  of  utmost 
salvation. 

A  word  to  those  who  profess  extraordinary  attainments. 

To  begin  with,  remember  there  is  no  difference  between  you 
and  your  brethren  that  marks  an  essential  distinction.  You  are 
brethren  in  the  Lord — servants  of  the  same  Master,  participants 
of  the  same  life,  members  of  the  same  family,  journeying  to 
the  same  heaven.  Why  should  you  fall  out  by  the  way  and  vex 
one  another  ?  The  difference  is  one  of  more  or  less  experience, 
not  one  of  kind. 

Have  you  more  grace  ;  have  you  experienced  more  of  the  deep 
things  of  God  ;  is  your  brother  less  advanced  ?  Then  the  greater 
reason  that  j^ou  should  be  gentle  and  kind.  You  have  been  lifted 
into  a  great  experience ;  to  you  has  been  revealed  more  of  the 
deep  things  of  God  ;   a  deeper  life  has  come  into  your  soul. 

Is  there  not  reason  that  this  great  experience  should  make 
you  an  example  of  every  grace  ?  and  more  especially  of  the  grace 
of  humility  and  self-forgettingness  ?  If  God  has  filled  you  thus 
with  his  wondrous  love,  ought  it  not  make  your  love  more 
abounding?     If  you  have  tasted  this  grace  I  know  you  feel  so. 

You  will  receive  kindly  some  advices,  I  am  sure,  if  you  are 
persuaded  they  are  well  meant,  and  I  am  sure  what  is  here  said 
is  well  meant.  God  wants  a  holy  Church.  The  want  of  the 
age  is  a  holy  Church.  The  provisions  of  grace  are  adequate 
for  a  holy  Church.  Every  effort  possible  ought  to  be  employed 
to  bring  the  Church  up  to  the  highest  standard. 


PEILO SOPHY  OF  CHRISTIAK  EXPERIENCE.  173 

You  love  lioliness.  The  first  advice  I  offer  is,  love  it  more  and 
more ;  still  continue  to  aspire  after  its  greater  depths  and  heights  ; 
you  cannot  be  too  holy ;  but  do  not  make  the  mistake  of  imagining 
that  the  profession  of  holiness  is  holiness,  or  is  a  means  to  its 
attainment  or  a  means  to  its  continuance.  Above  all  avoid 
extravagance  in  the  manner  and  terms  of  profession.  This  has 
been  and  yet  is  a  source  of  great  evil.  There  is  no  occasion  for  it. 
Your  heart  compels  you  to  confess  what  God  has  done  for  you. 
That  is  right,  but  you  want  to  be  wise  in  the  manner  of  jowy 
confession,  and  your  life  to  correspond  with  it ;  otherwise  it 
becomes  an  offense  and  does  immense  harm.  Great  mischief 
has  come  to  the  Church  from  this  source.  If  your  experience  is 
genuine  you  would  not  do  harm — make  not  your  godliness  itself 
an  offense.  It  will  not  hurt  you  to  be  modest  in  speaking  of 
yourself,  to  remember  that  you  are  fallible — not  to  think  more 
highly  of  yourself  than  you  ought  to  think  ;  in  honor  to  prefer 
others.  Remember  that  self  distrust  is  not  a  vice  but  a  virtue 
rather.  Remember  further  that  any  experience  you  may  have 
had  has  not  freed  you  from  common  infirmities,  and  therefore 
the  reason  for  modesty.  It  is  a  comely  and  winning  grace.  Your 
fellow  Christians  who  know  you  will,  if  your  life  accords  with 
it,  rejoice  to  hear,  and  will  ])rofit  by,  any  profession  you  make 
if  it  be  not  extravagant  in  manner  and  word.  Your  speech  and 
your  experience  will  be  to  edification  when  inspired  by  love — 
never  witliout  such  seasoning.  There  are  noticeable  tendencies 
which  admonish  you.     Will  you  give  heed  ? 

That  there  are  tendencies  to  overprofession,  separation,  spirit- 
ual egotism,  pride,  antinomianism,  a  freeing  from  the  common 
law  of  duty,  schism  of  the  body  of  Christ,  uncharitable  judging 
of  others,  setting  up  a  censorship  over  the  pulpit,  self-assertion 
and  overweening  confi.dence,  a  depreciation  of  the  ordinary 
means  of  grace,  fanaticism,  no  one  who  is  observant  can  doubt. 


174  PHILOSOPHY  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE. 

Every  thoughtful  Christian  knows  tliat  these  dangers  are  rife. 
You  may  not  be  conscious  of  them  in  yourself,  but  you  know 
tliey  exist.  Tliis  ought  to  be  sufficient  to  put  you  on  your 
guard. 

I  append  Mr.  Wesley's  letter  to  Mr.  Maxfield.  You  will  see 
its  appropriateness  to  our  times  : 

JOHN    WESLEY    ON    SANCTIFICATION. 

The  following  characteristic  letter  from  Mr.  Wesley  to  Mr. 
Maxfield  is  found  in  Moore's  Life  of  Wesley : 

"  Without  any  preface  or  ceremony,  which  is  nseless  between 
you  and  me,  I  will  simply  and  plainly  tell  you  what  I  dislike  in 
your  doctrine,  spirit,  or  outward  behavior. 

"  1.  I  like  your  doctrine  of  perfection,  or  pure  love — love  ex- 
cluding sin  ;  your  insisting  that  it  is  merely  by  faith ;  that  con- 
sequently it  is  instantaneous  (though  preceded  and  followed  by 
a  gradual  work),  and  that  it  may  be  now,  at  this  instant.  Lut 
I  dislike  your  saying  that  a  man  may  be  as  perfect  as  an  angel ; 
that  he  can  be  absolutely  perfect,  that  he  can  be  infallible,  or 
above  being  tempted  ;  or  that  the  moment  he  is  pure  in  heart 
he  cannot  fall  from  it. 

"  I  dislike  your  directly  or  indirectly  depreciating  justifica- 
tion, saying  a  justified  persim  is  not  in  Christ,  is  not  born  of 
God,  is  not  sanctified,  not  a  temple  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  or  that 
he  cannot  please  God,  or  cannot  grow  in  grace. 

"  I  dislike  your  saying  that  one  saved  from  sin  needs  nothing 
more  than  looking  to  Jesus,  needs  not  to  hear  or  think  of 
anything  else;  believe,  believe,  is  enough;  that  he  needs  no 
self-examination,  no  times  of  private  prayer  ;  needs  not  mind 
little  or  outward  things ;  and  that  he  cannot  be  taught  by  any 
person  who  is  not  in  the  same  state. 

"  I  dislike  your  affirming  that  justified  persons  in  general 


PHILOSOPHY  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE.  175 

persecute  them  that  ai-e  saved  from  sin,  and  that  they  have  per- 
secuted you  on  this  account. 

"  2.  As  to  your  spirit,  I  like  your  confidence  in  God  and  your 
zeal  for  the  salvation  of  souls. 

"  I  disHke  sometliing  which  has  the  appearance  of  pride,  of 
overvaluing  yourselves  and  undervaluing  others,  particularly 
the  preachers,  thinking  that  not  only  ai-e  they  blind,  and  that 
they  are  not  sent  of  God,  but  even  that  they  are  dead — dead  to 
God,  and  walking  in  the  way  to  hell ;  that  they  are  going  one 
one  way,  you  another ;  that  they  have  no  life  in  them  ;  your 
speaking  of  yourselves  as  though  you  were  the  only  men  who 
knew  and  taught  the  Gospel ;  and  as  if  not  only  all  clergy,  but 
all  the  Methodists  besides,  were  in  utter  darkness. 

"  I  dislike  something  that  has  the  appearance  of  enthusiasm  ; 
overvaluing  feeling  and  inward  impressions  ;  mistaking  the  mere 
work  of  imagination  for  the  voice  of  the  Spirit ;  expecting  the 
end  without  the  means,  and  undervaluing  reason,  knowledge, 
and  wisdom  in  general. 

"  I  dislike  something  that  has  the  appearance  of  antinomian- 
ism  ;  not  magnifying  the  law  and  making  it  honorable ;  not 
enough  valuing  tenderness  of  conscience  and  exact  watchfulness 
in  order  thereto ;  using  faith  rather  as  contradistinguished 
from  holiness  than  as  productive  of  it. 

"  But  what  I  most  of  all  dislike  is  your  littleness  of  love  to  your 
brethren  ;  your  want  of  meekness,  gentleness,  long-suffering ; 
your  impatience  of  contradiction,  counting  every  man  your 
oneniy  that  reproves  or  admonishes  you  in  love ;  your  bigotry 
and  narrowness  of  spirit,  loving,  in  a  manner,  only  those  that 
love  you  ;  your  censoriousness,  proneness  to  think  hardly  of  all 
who  do  not  earnestly  agree  with  you  ;  in  one  word,  your  divisive 
spirit.  Indeed,  I  do  not  believe  that  any  of  you  either  design 
or  desire  a  separation.  But  you  do  not  enough  fear,  abhor,  and 
12 


176  PHILOSOPHY  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE. 

detest  it,  shuddering  at  tlie  very  thouglit.     All  the  preceding 
tempers  tend  to  it,  and  gradually  prepare  you  for  it. 

"  3.  As  to  your  outward  behavior,  I  like  the  general  tenor 
of  your  life,  devoted  to  God  and  spent  in  doing  good. 

"  I  dislike  your  appointing  snch  meetings  as  hinder  others  from 
attending  either  the  public  preaching,  or  their  class,  or  band. 

"  I  dislike  your  spending  so  much  time  in  several  meetings 
as  many  that  attend  can  ill  spare  from  the  other  duties  of  their 
calling,  unless  they  omit  either  the  preaching,  or  their  class,  or 
band.  This  naturally  tends  to  dissolve  our  society  by  cutting 
the  sinews  of  it. 

"  As  to  more  public  meetings,  I  like  the  praying  fervently 
and  largely  for  all  the  blessings  of  God.  I  know  much  good 
has  been  done  hereby,  and  I  hope  much  more  will  be  done.  But 
I  dislike  several  things  therein  :  The  using  improper  expressions 
in  23rayer,  sometimes  too  bold,  if  not  irreverent ;  sometimes  too 
pompous  and  magnificent,  extolling  yourselves  rather  than  God, 
and  telling  him  what  you  are,  not  what  you  want.  Your  affirm- 
ing people  will  be  justified  or  sanctified  just  now.  Your  affirm- 
ing they  are,  when  they  are  not.  The  bidding  them  say,  '  I  be- 
lieve,' The  bitterly  condemning  any  that  oppose,  calling  them 
wolves,  etc.,  and  pronouncing  them  hypocrites  or  not  justified, 

"  Read  this  calmly  and  impartially  before  the  Lord  in  prayer. 
So  shall  the  evil  cease  and  the  good  remain.  And  you  will  then 
be  more  than  ever  united  to 

"  Your  affectionate  brother,  J.  Wesley. 

"  Canterbury,  Nov.  2,  1Y62," 

I  cannot  close  this  discussion  without  adding  to  these  wise 
and  admonitory  words  of  Mr.  "Wesley — words  which  were 
necessary  in  his  time,  and  which  show  how  sorely  he  was 
troubled  with  disturbers  in  his  day  by  the  unskillful  handling 


PHILO SOPHY  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE.  177 

of  the  great  doctrine  he  taught,  a  furtlier  admonition  demanded 
in  our  time  from  the  same  cause:  I  do  so  with  unfeigned 
humih'tj  and,  1  am  sure,  in  the  spirit  of  sincere  love — in  the 
spirit  of  our  common  Master.  There  can  be  but  one  aim  with 
us  as  Christians.  That  aim  must  be  that  the  whole  Church 
shall  be  brought  to  the  highest  possible  completeness  in  Christ, 
tliat  all  the  members  of  the  mystical  body  should  become  vig- 
orous and  healthy,  that  the  entire  Church  should  be  penetrated 
and  filled  with  the  divine  life  to  utmost  fullness.  I  am  bold 
to  say  this  is  the  longing  desire  and  aim  of  every  regener- 
ate soul.  ^Nothing  is  more  certain  than  that  things  which 
tend  to  strife,  and  contention,  and  schism  must  hinder  that  aim. 
Can  we  doubt,  with  all  the  facts  before  us,  that  great  evil  has 
arisen  from  the  spirit  of  separation  which  has  been  engendered 
and  is  assiduously  cultivated  among  us?  Is  it  to  edification  that 
a  guild  should  be  established  on  tlie  profession  of  special  attain- 
ments in  grace  ?  Does  it  improve  the  quality  and  usefulness  of 
the  class  so  distinguishing  itself  ?  Does  experience  prove  that 
it  is  helpful  to  the  body  ?  Is  it  authorized  by  the  teachings  and 
spirit  of  the  Master  himself  ?  It  has  appeared  time  and  again  : 
does  the  history  of  the  past  warrant  the  belief  that  it  is  of 
God  ?     Is  there  not  a  better  way  ?     Reflect. 

Brothers,  God  has  taken  us  into  a  great  fellowship, 
even  the  fellowship  of  himself ;  he  has  made  us  partakers  of 
the  divine  nature ;  has  given  to  us  the  spirit  of  his  Son,  the  in- 
dwelling of  the  Holy  Ghost ;  has  raised  us  to  sonship  and  heir- 
ship ;  has  set  us  to  be  the  lights  of  the  world  ;  to  be  co-workers 
with  him  in  the  salvation  of  our  fellow-men  ;  the  custodians  and 
dispensers  of  his  eternal  truth,  and  the  witnesses  of  his  grace  to 
present  and  complete  salvation  from  sin.  This  is  our  high-call- 
ing of  God  in  Christ  Jesus,     We  expect  in  a  very  brief  period 


178  PHILOSOPHY  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE. 

to  be  done  with  this  earthly  life,  and  are  confidently  hoping  to 
be  M^elcorned  into  heaven.  In  view  of  these  things  what  man- 
ner of  persons  ought  we  to  be?  Surely  we  are  called  unto  holi- 
ness. Let  us  not  quibble  and  quarrel  about  names.  The  great 
thing  is  to  live  as  children  of  the  light.  "We  then,  as  workers 
together  with  him,  beseech  you  also  that  ye  receive  not  the 
grace  of  God  in  vain.  .  .  .  Giving  no  offense  in  any  thing,  that 
the  ministry  be  not  blamed  ;  but  in  all  things  approving  our- 
selves as  the  ministers  of  God,  in  much  patience,  in  afflictions, 
in  necessities,  in  distresses,  in  stripes,  in  imprisonments,  in 
tumults,  in  labors,  in  watchings,  in  fastings ;  by  pureness,  by 
knowledge,  by  long  suffering,  by  kindness,  by  the  Holy  Ghost, 
l)y  love  unfeigned,  by  the  word  of  truth,  by  the  power  of  God, 
by  the  armor  of  righteousness  on  the  right  hand  and  on  the 
left,  by  honor  and  dishonor,  by  evil  report  and  good  report : 
as  deceivers  and  yet  true ;  as  unknown,  and  yet  well  known ;  as 
dying,  and,  behold,  we  live ;  as  chastened  and  not  killed  ;  as  sor- 
rowful yet  always  rejoicing  ;  as  poor,  yet  making  many  rich  ;  as 
having  nothing  and  yet  possessing  all  things.  O,  ye  [Christians] ! 
our  mouth  is  open  unto  you,  our  heart  is  enlarged.  Ye  are  not 
straitened  in  us,  but  ye  are  straitened  in  your  own  bowels." 
"  Finally,  brethren,  whatsoever  things  are  true,  whatsoever  things 
are  honest,  whatsoever  things  are  just,  whatsoever  things  are 
pure,  whatsoever  things  are  lovely,  whatsoever  things  are  of 
good  report ;  if  there  by  any  virtue,  and  if  there  be  any  praise, 
think  on  these  things.  Those  things  which  ye  have  both 
learned,  and  received,  and  heard,  and  seen  in  me,  do :  and  the 
God  of  peace  shall  be  with  you."  "  The  very  God  of  peace 
sanctify  you  wholly;  and  I  pray  God  your  whole  spirit  and  soul 
and  body  be  preserved  blameless  unto  the  coming  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ."  2  Cor.  vi,  1-12 ;  Phil,  iv,  8,  9 ;  1  Thess.  v,  23. 
Let  us  heed  these  words  of  the  great  apostle,  and,  remembering 


PHILOSOPHY  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE.  179 

onr  great  exampler,  tlio  Lord  Jesus  himself,  let  us  as  nearly  as 
possible  copy  his  example,  and  imitate  liis  spirit,  "  who  was  holy, 
and  harmless,  and  undeiiled,"  and  also  "  meek  and  lowly."  God 
has  entrusted  us  with  a  great  trust:  the  blessed  doctrine  of 
Christian  holiness.  The  trust  puts  us  under  peculiar  responsi- 
bilities. Our  fellow  Christians  of  other  communions  have  given 
no  such  hostages  as  we  have.  They  are  more  modest  in  their 
professions.  It  is  for  us  to  prove  that  we  are  not  rash,  and  by 
the  beauty  of  our  lives  to  furnish  incentives  to  the  higher  expe- 
rience which  we  profess.  It  is  for  all  who  profess  the  name  of 
the  Lord  Jesus  to  depart  from  all  iniquity,  and  to  show  them- 
selves pure  and  spotless.  Finally,  l^rothers,  have  faith  in  God, 
pray  earnestly  and  constantly  for  the  heavenly  help  of  the  Holy 
Ghost,  watch  against  the  approaches  of  sin,  abide  near  the  cross. 
Keep  a  conscience  void  of  offense  toward  God  and  man,  be  dili- 
gent, and  so  much  the  more  as  you  see  the  day  approaching. 
If  these  things  are  observed  all  men  will  know  that  you  have 
been  with  Jesus.  You  will  need  no  other  testimony  except  as 
a  grateful  heart  maj^  move  you  to  speak  with  meekness  of  the 
wondrous  grace  which  saves  you. 


180  PHILOSOPHY  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENGK 


NOTE  A. 


Bev.  Ed-ward  Everett  Hale,  D.D., 
Pastor  of  the  South  Congregational  Church  [Unitarian],  Boston. 

In  answer  to  your  note  of  October  5,  let  me  say:  1.  "Every  person  born  in  a 
Christian  land  is  born  a  Christian,  in  a  very  familiar  and  legitimate  sense  of  that  word, 
precisely  as  every  one  born  in  America  is  born  an  American.  The  child  is  cared  for 
by  Cliristian  skill,  is  fed  on  food  which  is  Christ-given,  is  wrapped  in  a  Christian 
blanket,  and  cannot  escape  from  the  beginning  the  influences  of  Christian  life. 

2.  "I  do  not,  however,  suppose  that  it  is  in  this  sense  of  the  word  Christian  that 
you  put  your  question.  I  suppose  that  the  answer  which  your  quoslion  requires 
is  that  which  the  Saviour  gave.  He  said,  when  he  had  occasion  to  answer  it, 
'  Whosoever  shall  do  tlie  will  of  my  Father  who  is  in  heaven,  he  is  my  brother, 
and  sister,  and  motlier.'  " 

Tliis  answer  is  as  good  now  as  it  was  then. 

39  Highland  Street,  Roxbury,  Mass. 


Charles  W.  Eliot,  LL.D., 
President  of  Harvard  University. 

In  answer  to  your  question  of  October  5, 1  beg  to  say  that  to  my  thinking  he  is 
a  Christian  who  accepts  Jesus  Clirist  as  the  best  moral  and  spiritual  guide  tlie 
world  has  seen,  and  tries  in  liis  Spirit  to  love  and  serve  God  and  man. 

Cambridge,  Mass. 

Hev.  Csmis  A.  Bartol,  D.D., 
Pastor  of  the  West  Church  [Unitarian!,  Boston. 

To  be  a  Cliristian  is  to  live  for  others. 
Manchester,  Mass. 

Mrs.  G.  K.  Alden  ("  Pansy  "), 

Author,  Magazinist. 

I  very  mucli  regret  that  illness  and  an  overwhelming  pressure  of  work  makes 
it  impossible  for  mo  at  this  time  to  give  a  careful  answer  to  the  important  ques- 
tion you  ask,  beyond  the  plain  statement  that,  in  my  opinion,  to  be  a  Christian  is 
to  love  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  so  much  that  I  shall  desire  to  have  him  reign  su- 
preme in  my  heart.  I  infer  that  you  want  this  thought  put  into  simpler,  or 
rather  into  more  detailed,  language,  and  for  that,  as  I  said,  I  cannot  secure  the  time. 

"Winter  Park,  Fla. 


PHILOSOPHY  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE.  181 

Kev.  A.  P.  Peabody,  D.D.,  LL.D., 

Professor  of  Christian  Morals,  Harvard  University. 
The  Christian  is  he  whose  prime  aim  and  evermore  successful  endeavor  is 
Christ-likeness. 

I  know  of  no  other  definition  which  does  not  exclude  some  whom  it  ought  to 
include,  or  include  some  who  have  no  right  to  be  called  Christians. 

II  QuiNCY  Street,  Cambridge,  Mass. 

Hon.  Robert  C.  Pitman,  LL.D., 

Judge  of  the  Superior  Court. 

"  "What  is  it  to  be  a  Christian  ?  " 

The  simplest  answer  is  the  best.  It  is  to  be  a  disciple  of  Christ.  Or,  as  Dr. 
Tliomas  Arnold  puts  it  in  one  of  his  letters:  "  The  purpose  of  his  heart  and  mind 
is  to  obey  and  be  guided  by  Christ,  and  therefore  he  is  a  Christian."  This  suf- 
fices for  entrance  upon  the  Christian  life,  and  is  the  all-sufScient  test  of  fellow- 
ship.    Tlie  ultimate  aim  must  be  likeness  to  Christ. 

Newton,  Mass. 

Mrs.  Sarah.  K.  Bolton, 
Author,  Writer. 

Matt,  vii,  12:  "Therefore  all  things  whatsoever  ye  would  that  men  should  do 
to  you,  do  ye  even  so  to  them  ;  "for  Christ's  sake.  Thus  one  leads  an  upright  life 
from  the  best  motive — unselfish  love  for  another. 

Cleveland,  0. 

Rev.  David  H.  Moore,  D.D., 

Editor  of  the  Weitcrn  Christian  Advocate. 

Building  one's  life  upon  the  model — Christ  Jesus. 
Cincinnati,  0. 

Rev.  Howard  Crosby,  D.D.,  LL.D., 

Pastor  of  Fourth  Avenue  Church  [Presbyterian],  New  York. 

"  "What  is  it  to  be  a  Christian  ?  " 

To  be  saved  from  sin  and  eternal  death,  faith  in  God  as  Saviour  is  the  one  essen- 
tial. "None  of  them  that  trust  in  him  shall  be  desolate  (Hebrew  "  bear  guilt,") — ■ 
Psa.  xxxiv,  22. 

To  be  a  Christian  is  to  have  this  faith  or  trust  in  God,  as  made  known  in  his 
Son  Jesus  Christ,  the  express  image  of  his  person. 

116  East  Nineteenth  Street,  New  York. 

Samuel  Huntington,  Ssq., 

To  will  to  do  the  will  of  God  in  the  letter  and  spirit  of  1  Cor.  xiii  and  Gal.  vi,  2. 
Burlington,  "Vt. 


182  PHILOSOPHY  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE. 

Bev.  O.  P.  Giflford,  D.D., 

Pastor  of  the  Warren  Avenue  Church  [Baptist],  Boston. 

"  What  is  it  to  be  a  Christian  ?  " 

In  tlie  parable  of  the  sower  Jesus  pictures  tlie  Son  of  man  sowing  seed.  The 
soil  had  not  in  itself  tlie  secret  of  a  harvest,  therefore  culture  of  the  soil  could  not 
bring  a  harvest.  Bad  soil  was  stony,  or  trodden  hard,  or  thorn  mortgaged,  and 
gave  no  harvest  even  when  the  seed  was  offered;  good  soil  depended  upon  seed 
brought  to  it  and  received  by  it  for  a  harvest.  A  man  becomes  a  Christian  when 
he  accepts  the  truth  which  Christ  taught,  co-oporates  with  the  truth  received, 
yields  his  whole  life  to  "the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus,"  and  reproduces  that  life  up 
to  the  measure  of  his  ability,  "some  thirty,  some  sixty,  and  some  a  hundred- 
fold." Capacity  to  reproduce  varies,  b>it  "  eternal  life  "  depends  upon  acceptance 
of  Christ,  submission  to  Christ,  co-operation  with  Clirist,  and  reproduction  of  Christ 

Boston,  Mass. 

Charles  C.  Bragdon, 
Principal  of  Lasell  Seminary. 
Question:  "  "What  is  it  to  be  a  Christian  ?  " 
Answer,  brief  and  adequate:  Mark  i,  18. 

To  be  a  Christian  seems  to  me  to  mean  not  necessarily  to  be  a  mature  Christian, 
nor  a  faultless  human  being,  but  a /(jHowe?-.     Better  tlian    all    human  comment  is 
found  in  Matt,  xx,  34,  27  and  28,  and  Matt,  xxii,  37  and  3t). 
AuBURNDALE,  Mass. 

Mrs.  Margaret  Bottome, 

President  of  the  Order  of  King's  Daughters. 

"  What  is  it  to  be  a  Christian  ?  " 

I  answer  :  To  believe  what  Jesus  Christ  says,  and  to  do  what  Jesus  Christ  tells 
us  to  do.  I  remember  hearing  Mr.  Moody  tell  of  one  who  wanted  to  be  a  Chris- 
tian, and  he  did  all  he  could  to  show  her  the  way;  but  no  ligiit,  no  joy,  came  to 
her.  At  last,  in  utter  despair,  he  said,  "Will  you  follow  me  in  our  Lord's  Prayer, 
sentence  by  sentence  ?"  So  he  commenced  "  Our  Father  " — and  she  repeated  it 
after  him  until  he  reached  the  sentence,  "  forgive  us  our  trespasses  as  we  forgive 
those  who  trespass  against  us."  She  quietly  said,  "  I  never  say  that."  "Why 
not?"  said  Moody.  "Because  there  is  a  woman  who  injured  me,  and  I  never 
will  forgive  her."  "  Then,"  said  he,  "  you  will  never  become  a  Christian."  "  Well, 
here  it  ends,"  she  said.  And  it  did  end  in  her  going  to  the  asylum  in  two  years 
after.  (May  be  it  was  called  a  case  of  religious  insanity,  but  it  was  the  want  of 
it.)  No,  the  time  has  come  when  we  would  better,  with  the  life  of  our  Lord  in 
our  hands,  lind  out  whether  we  are  Christians  or  not.  We  will  not  need  any 
formulated  creed.  Self-denial  will  take  us  a  shorter  wav  to  becoming  a  Christian 
than  any  Shorter  or  Longer  Catechism  that  I  know  anything  about — the  simple 
"  follow  Me,"  which  means  to  us,  do  as  I  tell  you.  And  the  first  thing  he  will 
tell  us  to  do  is  to  believe.  He  tells  the  truth  when  he  says  that  God  loves  us  and 
is  our  Father.     The  best  and  hardest  thing  is  to  really  believe  God  is  our  Father. 


PniLOSOPHT  OF  CnRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE.  183 

And  when  we  really  say  "Father!"  we  are  Christians — not  perfect  Christians, 
but  Christians.  Our  soldiers  were  as  much  in  the  army  after  they  had  taken  the 
oath  as  they  were  when  captains  or  generals. 

Try  this  simple  way!  The  oalli  is,  '■'■  I  will  obey  Jesus  Christ;  "  and  in  less  than 
five  minutes  you  will  be  a  Christian.     Try  it ! 

29  "Washington  Place,  New  York. 


Rev.  Lyman  Abbott,  D.D., 

Pastor  of  Plymouth  Church  and  Editor  of  the  Christian  Union. 

To  be  a  Christian  is,  according  to  the  New  Testament  phraseology,  to  be  a 
follower  of  Christ — not  to  think  something  about  him,  but  to  appreciate  him,  love 
him,  try  to  be  like  him,  and  trust  in  the  help  wliich  comes  through  him  for  accom- 
plishing the  work  which  he  gives  his  followers  to  do. 

Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 

Professor  David    Swing,  D.D., 
Pastor  of  the  Independent  Church,  Chicago. 

AH  those  terms  which  end  in  "  «ms  "  in  Latin  and  "nos"  in  Greek  mean  "be- 
longing to."  An  AmericamMS  is  a  man  who  belongs  to  America.  This  is  the 
truest  and  sharpest  meaning  of  Christiawws  or  Christian — a  man,  woman  or  child 
that  belongs  to  Christ.  The  person  who  is  like  Christ  in  thought  and  deed,  and 
who  ardently  wislies  to  become  more  and  more  like  him,  is  the  best  Christian 
conceivable.  As  a  "Whig,  or  a  Democrat,  or  a  Republican  may  still  be  an  Anieri- 
cau,  so  a  Methodist,  or  a  Baptist,  or  a  Calvinist,  may  be  a  Christian.  It  is  not 
necessary  that  a  Christian  should  believe  in  any  doctrines  except  those  taught  by 
Christ.  He  need  not  have  Moses  for  a  master.  If  necessary,  he  can  live  upon 
the  Gospel  of  John  or  Matthew.  Methodism  or  Calvinism  does  not  harm  him,  but 
it  is  Christism  that  makes  him  and  saves  him. 

403  Superior  Street,  Chicago,  Ilu 

Rev.  Theodore  L.  Cuyler,  D.D., 

Pastor  of  the  Lafayette  Avenue  Church  [Presbyterian],  Brooklyn. 

"  "V^'liat  is  it  to  be  a  Christian  ?  " 

Jesus  Christ  answered  this  question  when  he  said  tliat  whoever  would  be  his 
disciple  must  deny  himself  and  follow  him.  The  man,  therefore,  who  forsakes 
his  sins,  and  b}'  the  help  of  the  Holy  Spirit  endeavors  to  keep  the  commandments 
of  his  atoning  Saviour  and  Zorc?,  is  a  Christian.  Faith  joins  the  sinner's  soul  to 
the  sinner's  Saviour. 

Mrs.  Mary  A.  Livermore, 
Lecturer,   Author. 

In  late  years,  I  have  come  to  place  great  stress  on  life  and  character,  as  fur- 
nishing the  best  evidence  of  one  being  a  Christian.  "By  their /rw'fe  ye  shall 
know  them." 


184  PHILOSOPHT  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE. 

And  yet,  it  seems  to  me  that  a  belief  in  the  historic  Christ,  based  on  tlie  New 
Testament  histories,  and  illustrated  and  fortified  by  the  researches  of  tlie  reliable 
biblical  scholars  of  the  day.  is  essential,  if  one  would  be  a  well-grounded  and 
intelligent  Christian,  theoretically. 

Secondly:  To  this  intellectual  conviction  must  be  added  a  persistent  and 
courageous  endeavor  to  act  up  to  one's  higliest  ideal,  and  to  live  a  life  of  love  to 
God  and  man,  in  accordance  with  the  teachings  of  Christ.  The  life  must  be 
dominated  by  a  high  purpose, 

"  To  think,  to  feel,  to  do 
Only  the  holy  Right ; 
To  yield  no  step  in  the  awful  race. 
No  blow  in  the  fearful  flght." 

One  cannot  be  a  Cliristian  who  does  not  aim  to  live  among  his  fellows  in  love 
and  helpfulness,  bearing  their  burdens  and  illuminating  their  darkness.  As  tl.e 
law  of  Christ's  life  was  service  to  the  world,  so  should  it  be  that  of  those  who 
call  themselves  by  his  name. 

"  By  this  shall  all  men  know  that  ye  are  my  disciples,  if  ye  have  love  one  to 
another." 

Melrose,  Mass. 

Rev.  Charles  Gordon  Ames, 
Pastor  of  the  Church  of  the  Disciples  [Unitarian],  Boston. 

I  respond  to  your  request  for  an  answer  to  the  question,  "  What  is  it  to  be  a 
Christian  ?  "  not  without  some  reluctance,  and  not  wholly  to  my  own  content ; 
for  behind  every  question  lurk  a  hundred  others,  and  who  can  voice  the  un- 
speakable ?  Words,  too,  are  ambiguous  and  leaky ;  they  never  hold  half  one's 
meaning.  All  the  same,  I  suppose  we  ought  to  keep  on  talking  as  the  Spirit 
gives  utterance  to  every  man. 

"  What  is  it  to  be  a  Christian  ?  " 

We  may  be  helped  to  an  answer  by  the  ideal  "  good  man  '"  described  by  Jesus 
— a  man  who  "out  of  the  good  treasure  of  his  heart  bringeth  forth  good  things," 
and  who  is  thus  known  by  his  fruits  to  be  a  partaker  of  the  divine  nature.  But 
a  truly  penitent  sinner  may  also  be  called  a  Christian,  as  soon  as  his  will  goes 
over  to  the  side  of  goodness.  If  I  try  to  distinguish  between  the  ordinary  'good 
man  "  and  the  Christian,  the  latter  presents  himself  as  a  conscious  child  of  God,  of 
tlie  Christ  pattern;  that  is,  as  one  whose  virtue  is  fashioned  and  colored  by  the 
Spirit  of  loving  trust  and  obedience  which  we  call  sonship,  of  which  brotJierhood, 
justice,  and  willing  service  are  the  sure  outcome.  Technically,  or  according  to 
the  common  use  of  language,  the  Cliristian  is  one  who  has  reached  this  experience 
of  sonship  by  the  Christ-method,  through  the  trusting  surrender  of  self-will;  or 
by  heeding  the  counsels  of  perfection  given  and  illustrated  by  Jesus,  whose  su- 
preme sacrifice  was  simply  the  making  of  the  Father's  will  his  own.  Faith,  hope, 
love,  pardon,  the  new  life,  regeneration — all  inhere  in  this  enthronement  of  the 
divine  authority  within  the  will. 

But  the  name  Christian  is  of  secondary  importance,  and  of  ten  definitions  all 
may  be  true.  One  finds  in  the  New  Testament  no  exhortations  to  be  "  Christian  ;" 


PHILOSOPHY  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE.  185 

the  whole  urgency  of  the  Gospel  is  to  produce  "  sons  of  God"  of  such  quality  that 
the  Father's  life  may  be  in  them  ;  that  liis  Spirit  may  bear  them  witness,  lead  and 
sanctify  them ;  and  that  the  well-beloved  may  not  be  ashamed  to  call  them 
brethren  and  joint-heirs  with  himself  to  the  inheritance  of  love,  wisdom,  and 
power.  We  have  many  ways  of  talking  about  it ;  and  spiritual  experience  has 
endless  varieties;  but  all  genuine  goodness  is  of  one  stuff;  and  it  never  includes 
God's  grace  and  man's  freedom. 
Boston,  Mass. 

Eev.  Charles  H.  Parkhvirst,  D.D., 
Pastor  of  the  Madison  Square  Church  [Presbyterian],  New  York. 

The  following  paragraph  states  as  succinctly  as  I  am  able  to  do  my  conception 
of  the  essential  fact  in  personal  Christianity. 

To  be  a  Christian  is  humanly  to  incarnate  the  very  life  of  God;  and  thus  to  be, 
in  the  strictest  sense  of  the  expression,  a  little  Christ  in  our  own  little  world. 

133  East  Thirty-Fifth  Street,  New  York. 

Miss  Frances  E.  "Willard, 
President  of  the  National  Woman's  Christian  Temperance  Union. 

"What  is  it  to  be  a  Christian?  " 

I  have  been  trjMng  to  find  out  the  answer  to  this  most  momentous  question  of 
all  time  for  well-nigli  fifty  years  1  For,  as  one  has  said,  tlie  statements  concerning 
Christ  are  of  such  a  character  that,  if  they  are  true,  it  matters  very  little  what 
else  is  false;  and  if  they  are  false,  it  matters  very  little  what  is  true.  The  foun- 
dation-line of  my  character-pyramid  is  that  they  are  as  true,  though  not  so  de- 
monstrable, as  the  proportions  of  geometry. 

This  granted,  I  should,  say  that  to  be  a  Christian  is  to  be  adjusted  to  God's  laws 
written  in  our  minds,  our  members,  and  our  spirits  as  accurately  as  the  eye  is 
adjusted  to  light,  the  ear  to  sound,  the  heart  to  love,  the  soul  to  faith.  It  is 
to  have  one's  lifesliip  consciously  guided  by  the  Holy  Spirit,  God  whispering  his 
oracles  through  conscience,  and  to  believe  with  one's  inmost  nature,  intellect, 
sensibilities,  and  will  that  "  God  was  manifest  in  the  flesh,  reconciling  the  world 
unto  himself  through  Christ  Jesus,"  our  elder  Brother,  our  Exemplar  and 
Redeemer. 

En  route  in  New  York. 

Hon.  JTranklin  i^airbanks. 

President  of  Fairbanks  Scale  Company. 

I  could  answer  your  inquiry  at  length,  but  to  be  very  brief  answer  as  follows : 

"What  is  it  to  be  a  Christian  ?  " 

To  be  a  Christian  is  to  believe  on,  and  to  follow,  tlie  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  the  Son 
of  God,  one  of  the  Trinity.    Acts  viii,  37  ;  John  xi,  27. 

To  be  a  Christian  one  must  have  a  change  of  heart,  the  "new  birth."  John 
iii,  3,  5. 

St.  Johnsbury,  Vt. 


186  PHILOSOPHY  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE. 

Rev.  A.  J.  Gordon,  D.D., 
Pastor  of  the  Clarendon  Street  Church,  Baptist,  Boston. 

To  be  a  Christian  is  one  thing ;  to  begin  to  be  a  Christian  is  quite  another  tiling. 
Tlie  first  attainment  involves  a  life-time  of  toil  and  conflict  and  discipline;  the 
second  involves  a  surrender  of  the  will  to  Christ.  To  believe  on  the  Lord  Jesus, 
wliicli  means  to  receive  Christ  as  our  personal  Lord  and  Saviour,  is  the  step  by 
which  we  enter  on  the  Christian  life.  In  order  that  our  faith  may  be  proved  to 
be  sincere,  it  must  be  openly  confessed.  "If  thou  shalt  confess  with  thy  mouth 
the  Lord  Jesus,  and  believe  in  thy  heart  that  God  has  raised  him  from  the  dead, 
thou  shalt  be  saved."  Rom.  x.  9.  This  belief  expressing  itself  in  confession  is 
that  by  which  one  begins  to  be  a  Christian  ;  to  be  a  Christian  involves  a  whole  suc- 
ceeding life-time  of  obedience,  cross-bearing,  and  holy  living. 

Boston,  Mass. 

Borden  P.  Bcwne,  LIj.D., 

Professor  of  Philosophy,  Boston  University. 
To  be  a  Cliristian  is  to  live  in  loving  submission  and  active  obedience  to  the  will 
of  God,  trusting  in  his  mercy  in  Jesus  Christ. 
Boston,  Mass. 

Mrs.  Lucy  Rider  Meyer,  M.D., 

Principal  of  the  Chicago  Training  School,  and  Superintendent  of  the  Chicago  Deaconess 

Home. 
To  be  a  Christian  is 

1.  Not  to  be  a  church  member,  though  all  Christians  ought  to  be  church 
members. 

2.  Not  to  be  religious,  though  all  Christians  will  be  religious. 

3.  Not  to  '•■give  one's  body  to  be  burned,"  though  all  Christians,  'oj  the  grace 
of  God,  would,  if  need  be,  give  their  bodies  to  be  burned. 

To  be  a  Christian  is 

1.  To  be  born  of  God.  "  Except  a  man  be  born  again,  he  cannot  see  the  king- 
dom of  God." 

2.  To  bs  saved  from  sin.  "  Thou  shalt  call  his  name  Jesus,  for  ho  shall  save 
his  people  from  their  sins." 

3.  To  be  like  Christ.     "  It  is  enough  for  the  disciple  that  he  be  as  his  master." 

4.  To  possess  Christ.     "He  that  hath  the  Son  hath  Christ." 
Chicago,  III. 

Rev.  Arthur  T.  Pierson,  D.D., 

Editor  of  the  Missionari)  Review  of  the  World. 

To  be  a  Christian  is  to  accept  Jesus  Christ  as  Saviour  and  Lord;  as  Saviour,  to 
save  from  sin's  penalty  and  power;  as  Lord,  to  rule  over  the  heart  and  life.  A 
Christian  is,  therefore,  one  who  heartily  believes  on  Jesus,  and  is  therefore  a  fol- 
lower of  him. 

Philadelphia,  Pa. 


PHILOSOPHY  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE.  187 

Bev.  Benjamin  St.  James  Fry,  D.D., 

Editor  of  the  Central  Christian  Advocate. 

To  be  a  Christian  is  to  obtain  by  faith  in  Ohrist  the  renewing  and  rectification 
of  one's  spiritual  life,  which  life  attains  perfection  in  loving  God  with  all  the  soul 
and  mind  and  might  and  strength,  and  one's  neighbor  as  one's  self. 
*    St.  Louis,  Mo. 

Marion  Harland, 
Author,  and  Editor  of  the  Home-Maker. 

To  be  Christians  is,  first  of  all,  believe,  love,  and  trust  in  our  crucified,  risen, 
and  ascended  Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ,  for  our  temporal  salvation  from 
sin,  and  eternal  safety  from  tlie  consequences  of  sin.  As  the  fruit  of  this  act  of 
"  saving  faitli,"  it  follows  that  we  should  grow,  dailj',  into  likeness  to  him  and 
nearness  to  him,  looking  to  him  for  counsel,  comfort,  and  strengtli.  If  we  love 
him,  we  will  keep  his  commandments.  His  Spirit  informs  the  desires  and  shapes 
the  actions  of  his  true  children.  Thus  springs  into  e.xercise  the  highest  form  of 
humanity.     As  he  loved  us,  we  must  love  also  one  another. 

New  York  City. 

Joseph  Cook, 
Lecturer,  Author,  Editor  of  Our  Day. 

A  Christian  is  one  who  has  obtained  deliverance  from  both  the  love  and  the  guilt 
of  sin  througli  the  new  birth  and  the  atonement;  one  who  has  the  faith  that  makes' 
faithful ;  one  who  loves  what  God  loves  and  hates  what  God  hates  :  one  who  has 
gladly,  affectionately,  and  irreversibly  accepted  God  in  Christ  as  both  Saviour 
and  Lord ;  one  who  sees  God  as  Creator  and  Saviour  so  vividly  and  intelligently 
as  to  be  willing  to  accept  him  as  Ruler  also;  one  who  so  beholds  the  cross  of 
Christ  that  it  is  no  cross  to  bear  the  cross. 

Boston,  Mass. 

Bev.  John  P.  Newman,  D.D.,  LL.D., 
Bishop  in  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 

You  ask,  "  What  is  it  to  be  a  Christian?"  There  is  a  world  of  difference  be- 
tween a  Christian  and  a  Christ-like  man.  We  count  Christians  by  hundreds  of 
millions,  but  the  Christ-like  people  are  reckoned  only  by  millions.  He  who 
accepts  Christ  as  "God  manifested  in  tlie  flesh;"  his  teachings  as  divine 
revelations  to  mankind;  his  ordinances  of  religion  as  the  holiest  obligations; 
Ills  conditions  of  repentance,  faith,  conversion,  as  essential  to  eternal  life ; 
his  claims  on  the  love  of  the  soul,  the  purity  of  the  life,  and  on  charity  for 
nlan  and  devotion  for  God,  is  a  Christian  by  profession  of  faith,  as  distinguished 
from  ail  unbelievers  wiiether  in  heathendom  or  Christendom.  This  is  the  honorable 
difference  between  the  believer  in  the  Lord  and  the  Jew,  the  infidel  and  the  pagan. 
Such  are  historical  and  doctrinal  Christians,  and  the  world  is  full  of  them.  Let 
us  believe  that  many  such  are  beautiful  in  morality  and  lovable  in  pliilanthrophy. 
This  is  an  immense  power  seen  in  governments,  in  sj^stems  of  education,  and  in 
social  reforms.  All  hail !  to  a  power  so  potent  and  sublime  I  All  this  is  the  fruit- 
age of  a  true  professional  conviction. 


188  PHILOSOPHY  OF  CHRISTIAN  EXPERIENCE 

But  there  remains  something  deeper,  broader,  grander  to  be  possessed.  Tlie 
measure  of  this  better  estate  ranges  from  a  desire  to  "  flee  from  the  wratli  to  come,' 
to  "all  the  mind  that  was  in  Christ,"  dominating  the  whole  man,  and  an  individ- 
ual incarnation  of  Jesus,  so  that  "Christ  livetli  in  me."  To  cherish  this  desire  by- 
all  possible  means  of  grace,  until  all  that  is  evil  in  us  is  eliminated,  all  that  is 
good  in  us  is  brought  to  maturity,  and  all  that  is  lacking  in  us  is  supphed,  is  the 
duty  and  the  privilege  of  each.  Within  these  extremes  are  all  true  Christians. 
The  "bruised  reed  "  and  the  "  smoking  tiax  "  are  not  to  be  despised.  The  "  leaven 
in  the  meal "  and  the  "  mustard  seed  "  in  the  earth  are  symbols  of  Iieavenly  grace 
in  the  human  heart.  This  is  the  babyhood  of  the  Christian,  lovable  and  beauti- 
ful as  infancy.  Beyond  is  the  manliood,  wherein  the  Christ-spirit  holds  every  ap- 
petite and  passion  within  the  limits  of  law — purifies  each  motive,  exalts  each 
purpose,  enonbles  each  aspiration,  intones  the  conscience  to  the  severest  morality, 
enshrines  the  love  of  God  and  man  in  the  "heart  of  hearts,"  and  lifts  up  the  hu- 
man will  and  the  divine  will  in  their  duality  into  a  perfect  oneness  in  our  Lord. 

Many  have  attained  thereunto.  They  are  walking  in  white;  their  conversation 
is  in  heaven.  To  them,  prayer  is  tlie  habit  of  the  soul.  Faith  is  the  normal  condi- 
tion of  ihe  Spirit.  Love  is  enthroned.  01  that  this  experience  may  be  my  re- 
alized answer  to  your  question,  "  What  is  it  to  be  a  Christian  ?  " 

Nashville,  Tenn. 

Bev.  D.  A.  ■Whedon,  D.D., 
Of  the  New  England  Southern  Conference,  Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 

A  Christian  is  one  who  believes  and  practices  the  truths  and  doctrines  of 
Christianity,  consisting  of  the  facts  of  Christ's  life  and  liis  teachings  as  found  in 
the  four  gospels,  and  the  doctrines  based  upon  them  by  his  apostles.  One  may, 
therefore,  be  a  good  Jew,  a  good  Buddhist,  a  good  Confucian,  a  good  Moham- 
medan, or  a  good  Agnostic,  and  be  no  Christian  ;  for  though  he  may  believe  some 
truths  and  practice  some  virtues  which  are  taught  by  Christ,  he  rejects  the  Gos- 
pel and  refuses  supreme  allegiance  to  him. 

Christ's  first  teaching  was  to  call  to  repentance ;  his  second,  the  necessity  of  a 
new  birth;  his  third,  faith  in  himself  as  essential  to  salvation.  Tlie  believing 
penitent  God  accepts,  forgives,  and  brings  into  right  relations  to  himself.  By  an 
inward  supernatural  change  he  makes  the  love  of  God  the  supreme  affection  of 
his  soul  and  gives  him  power  to  refrain  from  sinning  and  to  obey  God.  He  also 
gives  him  a  filial  relation  to  himself,  graciously  adopting  him  as  a  child.  The 
sinner  thus  becomes  a  Christian,  and  to  continue  a  Christian  he  must  continue  what 
God  has  made  him — forgiven,  renewed,  and  his  child. 

A  Christian,  then,  is  one  who  takes  Christ  as  his  Saviour  to  save  him  and  his 
Lord  to  rule  him;  who  loves  God  more  than  all  else,  and  his  neighbor  aa  liimself; 
who,  as  to  himself,  subdues  the  evil  within  him;  as  to  God,  obeys  his  laws  as 
given  in  the  Scriptures ;  and  as  to  liis  fellows,  walks  honestly,  justly,  unselfishly, 
kindly,  helpfully,  as  Jesus  would  do  in  his  place. 

East  Greenwich,  R.  L 


DATE  DUE 

*■■■'■' 

CAYLORD 

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